US President Barack Obama has reassured Americans that his policies will lift the United States out of recession.

Domestic issues dominated a nationally-televised news conference held Tuesday night at the White House.

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a speech during his second prime time news conference at the White House in Washington, March 24, 2009. [Zhang Yan/Xinhua]

Obama used the occasion to garner more support for his economic programs.

In his opening remarks at the news conference, Obama told the nation that his administration's economic stimulus policies are already taking effect.

He said jobs are being created because of massive government investment and the US is beginning to see signs of increasing sales and stabilizing housing prices for the first time in a long time.

Barack Obama, US President, said, "The most critical part of our strategy is to ensure that we do not return to an economic cycle of bubble and bust in this country. We know that an economy build on reckless speculation, inflated home prices and maxed-out credit cards does not create lasting wealth."

Obama said his administration was addressing the economic crisis on all fronts.

The latest efforts were announced earlier this week. On Monday, the Obama administration released details of a plan to thaw the nation's credit freeze by buying up toxic assets from banks.

Earlier on Tuesday, top economic officials pushed Congress for new powers to regulate non-bank financial companies, like failed insurer American International Group.

The administration's 3.6 trillion dollar budget plan for the 2010 fiscal year has been approved by Congress. Congressional Republicans criticized the plan as an over-spending, over-taxing disaster.

But Obama repeated his pledge that the plan will cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in 2011.

Barack Obama, US President, said, "The best way to bring our deficit down in the long run is not with a budget that continues the very same policies that have lead us to a narrow prosperity and massive debt. It's with a budget that leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest. This budget is inseparable from this recovery, because it is what lays the foundation for a secure and lasting prosperity."

Obama also touched on international issues.

On the Middle East peace process, he said even if a hard-line government takes shape in Israel, there is still hope for peace.

Obama said his choice of George Mitchell as Middle East envoy was a signal that the US government is serious about trying to move the parties toward that goal.

(CCTV March 26, 2009)