US President Barack Obama on Thursday urged Congress to approve his economic stimulus plan quickly, warning that the economy would face catastrophe without the plan.

"If we do not move swiftly to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe," Obama said during a meeting with House of Representatives Democrats attending a retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The plan "is not going to be absolutely perfect," the president told Democrats. No one is going to get everything they want in it, but without it, the economy would face catastrophe, he added.

In an opinion article in The Washington Post on Thursday, Obama also warned that the country could sink into a deeper and long-lasting recession without the stimulus plan.

"If nothing is done, this recession might linger for years," he said. "Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not able to reverse."

"That's why I feel such a sense of urgency about the recovery plan before Congress," Obama wrote in the newspaper piece titled "The Action Americans Need."

The US House of Representatives approved on January 28 a US$819-billion stimulus plan backed by the president and Democrats, sending it to the Senate.

In the Senate, the huge bill has been growing even larger. The addition of a new tax break for homebuyers Wednesday sent the price tag well past 900 billion dollars.

Senate Republicans, however, have persisted in their efforts to reduce government spending in the plan, to add tax cuts and reduce the cost of mortgages for millions of homeowners.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid halted debate on the plan on Thursday and said lawmakers would resume their work on Friday in their drive for a bipartisan agreement.

Reid was quoted by news reports as saying earlier in the day that he believed he had the votes to pass the measure and hoped to do so within hours.

He said he would try again on Friday and remained hopeful.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2009)