Enlarge By Ron Edmonds, AP President Obama, seen here on Monday meeting with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House in washington, plans a media blitz on his economic stimulus plan. WASHINGTON (AP)  President Obama planned Tuesday to blanket U.S. television with the message that Congress must approve hundreds of billions of dollars to fight off economic collapse. In more normal times, Obama's plans to name a third Republican to his Cabinet — New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg as commerce secretary — would have dominated White House news. But with the United States facing an uncertain financial future and rising unemployment and discouraging economic data, Gregg's nomination falls to a distant second as Obama's plan to grant interviews to every national television network. OBAMA: Wall Street bonuses 'shameful' Obama campaigned for the presidency and took office promising to yank Washington out of decades of bitter bipartisanship but has struggled on the stimulus measure despite his unprecedented courting of the opposition party even before he was inaugurated. Republican want to reshape his massive stimulus plan — budgeted at $819 billion as it passed the House of Representatives and rising to nearly $900 billion under debate in the Senate. While issuing praise of the highly popular president's call for quick stimulus action, they have been attacking their Democratic congressional colleagues for what they say is loading the measure down with pet projects and failing to provide larger tax cuts — the perennial Republican prescription for economic troubles. Obama bore down on fellow Democratic congressional leaders at a White House meeting late Monday and planned to talk economics with party rank-and-file at House and Senate retreats later in the week. While battling to hold together a stimulus measure acceptable to both parties, Obama faced the unwelcome distraction of a second Cabinet nominee falling under an income tax cloud. Former Sen. Tom Daschle, under Senate scrutiny as secretary of health and human services, apologized Monday for failing to pay more than $120,000 in taxes and appealed to his former colleagues to approve him all the same. Obama said he was "absolutely" sticking with his nominee. The White House at once underscored the magnitude of the problem while trying to minimize Daschle's culpability. "Nobody's perfect," said press secretary Robert Gibbs, while acknowledging "it was a serious mistake." There was welcome news when another Cabinet choice, Eric Holder, was confirmed by the Senate late Monday. Holder was to be sworn in Tuesday to become the first African-American U.S. attorney general. Holder's nomination initially had been viewed as problematic because of questions over his role in controversial pardons when he was the No. 2 Justice Department official under President Bill Clinton. Now Holder will be the country's chief law enforcement official as head of the Justice Department. Holder easily overcame some Republican objections over what they considered his insufficient commitment to fight terror and his support for gun control, but even his critics agreed that Holder was well-qualified for the post. While there were no predictions Daschle would be rejected, his tax troubles proved difficult for senators who only last week confirmed Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary despite his separate tax-payment problems. The issue strikes a nerve as many Americans are struggling with their own serious money problems. The political scrum over Obama's stimulus measure took place as the Commerce Department reported that personal spending fell for the sixth straight month in December by 1%. Analysts had predicted a decline of 0.9%. Incomes also dipped, and the personal savings rate shot higher, a sign that consumers remain extremely nervous about the economy. Also Monday, the president predicted some of America's troubled banks still could fail, despite a $700 billion financial bailout program, half of which has already been spent by the former Bush administration. The bailout program is separate from the Obama administration's stimulus plan. Top Senate Democrats plan to add a big increase in highway and mass transit funding to the recovery program Tuesday, even as others in the president's party hope to trim the cost of the plan. Republicans were pressing to lower mortgage costs to try to jolt the housing market out of its slump. In the Capitol, Republicans said their goal was to change the bill, not to block it. "Nobody that I know of is trying to keep a package from passing," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. "We need to fix housing first," he said. Nineteen Democratic and Republican state governors, meanwhile, cited frozen credit markets and rising unemployment in urging lawmakers to resolve their differences and asking Obama to sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk. The governors said the money it provides for public education, health care and rebuilding the nation's infrastructure will create and preserve jobs while making a sound investment in the country's long-term economic interests. "While we all believe in the importance of free markets, we believe that the markets today need stimulating," the governors of both parties told Obama in a letter dated Monday. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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