UPDATE:Obama:Without Action May Be 'Unable To Reverse' Crisis

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Taking his pitch for economic stimulus to heartland America, U.S. President Barack Obama warned Monday that delay in Washington will bring "deepening disaster" for the U.S. economy "We can no longer afford to wait," Obama said at a town hall meeting in Elkhart, Ind., the first event in a two-day campaign-style push for the $800 billion economic recovery package. "If we don't act immediately, millions more jobs will be lost, and national unemployment rates will approach double digits not just here in Elkhart, all across the country," Obama said. "More people will lose their homes and their health care. And our nation will sink into a crisis that, at some point, we may be unable to reverse." Obama will continue to push his message in a prime-time press conference later Monday, and another town hall event in Fort Myers, Fla., Tuesday. The White House says the trips are a chance for the president to take a conversation that has focused in recent weeks on political differences to areas hard hit by the recession. In Elkhart, the unemployment rate has more than tripled in the past year to 15.3%. Obama painted the stimulus package, a version of which will face a Senate vote Tuesday, not as a cure all, but as an essential step in a long road to economic revival. The plan, another version of which has already passed the House, would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure spending, tax cuts, and expanded unemployment benefits. "Even with this plan, the road ahead won't be easy. This crisis has been a long time in the making. We're not going to turn it around overnight," Obama said. "Recovery will likely be measured in years, not weeks or months." The White House has downplayed differences between the House and Senate bills, leaving it to lawmakers to craft a final version in a conference committee. Obama said Tuesday that the legislation isn't perfect, "but it is the right size, it is the right scope, broadly speaking it has the right priorities to create jobs that will jump-start our economy and transform this economy for the 21st Century." "I can't tell you with a hundred-percent certainty that every single item in this plan will work exactly as we hoped," Obama said. "But what I can tell you is, I can say with complete confidence that endless delay or paralysis in Washington in the face of this crisis will only bring deepening disaster." Still, the measure is unlikely to garner much support from Republicans, who say it is a bloated vehicle for pork, doesn't rely heavily enough on tax cuts and wouldn't provide short-term stimulus. House GOP leaders Monday called the package "a blatant act of generational theft." White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama, who has courted Republican lawmakers to little effect, said Monday that Obama is focused on passing a bill that creates enough jobs to get the economy back on track. "The number the President is focused on is not a vote number, but instead how many jobs is this legislation going to create, how many people are we going to put back to work," Gibbs said. Nonetheless, Obama will be joined by at least one prominent Republican in Florida Tuesday: Governor Charlie Crist. "I am eager to welcome President Obama to the Sunshine State as he continues to work hard to re-ignite the U.S. economy," Crist said in a statement released by the White House. In Elkhart Monday, Obama said tax cuts to working families, rather than the wealthy, are the most effective way to stimulate the economy. "When you give a tax break to working families who are struggling, they will spend it on buying a new coat for the kids or making sure that, you know, that they get that car repaired ... to get to work," Obama said. He provided little new insight into the financial rescue package to be outlined Tuesday by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, but again criticized Wall Street for awarding large bonuses at a time when many banks are asking for government help, promising to impose accountability and responsibility on the financial sector. "You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas, or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime," the president said. He said the administration's proposal for the financial sector will include a "series of plans" to boost the housing market and ease foreclosures. He renewed his support for a "cramdown" provision allowing for bankruptcy judges to alter mortgage terms, suggesting it would be included in Geithner's proposal.