Saying the country is "facing an economic crisis of historic proportions," President-elect Barack Obama on Monday formally unveiled his team of economic experts and readied the introduction of another on Tuesday.

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New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner was asked to be treasury secretary. Lawrence Summers was tapped as director of the National Economic Council. Christina D. Romer was chosen as chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Melody Barnes was named director of the Domestic Policy Council.

Late Monday, Democratic Party insiders said Obama intends to name Peter Orszag, head of the Congressional Budget Office, as his budget director, Democratic officials said Monday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Orszag, 39, would head the Office of Management and Budget, the agency that makes sure a president's priorities are translated into spending decisions.

Prior to his stint at the Federal Reserve in New York, Geithner was senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. He also served as director of the Policy Development and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund and held various Treasury posts during the Clinton administration.

When Summers, 53, was 28, he became one of Harvard's youngest-ever tenured professors. He served on President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, was chief economist for the World Bank, and served as Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration before becoming president of Harvard. He was credited with making the university more accessible to low-income applicants.

Romer has been a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1988. Before that she was a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.

Barnes has played key role on the Obama-Biden transition team, and she was a senior domestic policy adviser during the Obama campaign. She was executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C., and also served as chief counsel to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

'Hit The Ground Running'

As he named members of his economic team, Obama said there are extraordinary stresses on the financial system that require extraordinary responses.

Saying there's not a "minute to waste," Obama called on Congress to start work on an aggressive plan when it is sworn in in January so that his administration can "hit the ground running."

Obama said he wants action that will stabilize the financial system and get credit flowing, as well as create jobs in areas including rebuilding infrastructure and creating clean energy.

"Families cannot afford to keep on waiting and hoping for a solution," Obama said.

The president-elect's aides are calling on lawmakers to pass legislation by the Jan. 20 inauguration that meets Obama's two-year goal of saving or creating 2.5 million jobs.

Democratic congressional leaders said they will get to work when Congress convenes Jan. 6.

Though Obama aides declined to discuss a total cost of the massive two-year spending and tax-cutting recovery program, experts said it will probably far exceed the $175 billion he proposed during the campaign. Some economists and lawmakers have argued for as much as $700 billion, equal to the Wall Street bailout.

Obama 'Surprised' By Automakers

Obama said he was surprised that the nation's Big Three automakers did not have "a better thought-out proposal" when they appealed for help from Congress last week.

He said lawmakers did the right thing in telling the auto executives to come up with a plan before getting taxpayer money.

Obama said the industry can't just be allowed to "vanish," but he said any government aid should be designed to assure a "long-term, sustainable" industry.

He said the auto executives need to clarify how much money they need and he said their plan must describe an industry that is focused on retooling.

Social Secretary Named

Earlier Monday, the Obama transition team said that the chief of online community development for Allstate Financial was chosen to oversee social planning at the White House after Obama takes office.

The president-elect and his wife, Michelle, said Desiree Rogers, the president of social networking at Allstate Financial, will be White House social secretary.

Rogers previously worked as utilities president of Chicago-based natural gas company Peoples Energy and as director of the Illinois Lottery.

Melissa Winter, Mrs. Obama's traveling chief of staff during the campaign, will join the White House team as deputy chief of staff to the first lady.