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President Barack Obama said Thursday that he has signed an executive order giving the United States authority to impose sanctions on "key sectors of the Russian economy" if necessary in light of Russia's "dangerous risks of escalation" in Ukraine.

"These sanctions would not only have a significant impact on the Russian economy, but could also be disruptive to the global economy," Obama warned. "However, Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community."

Obama also announced that the United States will impose further sanctions on Russian individuals with "substantial resources and influence" on Russian leadership and on a bank that has provided "material support" to those individuals.

A senior administration official told reporters after the president's remarks that there are 20 individuals who have been newly targeted for sanctions, including a top aide to President Vladimir Putin and Putin's personal banker as well as the chairman of Russian Railways.

The official added that the broader sanctions authorized by the new executive order could include restrictions on the Russian financial services, energy, mining, defense and engineering sectors.

In response, Russia announced an entry ban on nine American lawmakers and officials, including House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Foreign Affairs Committee chief Robert Menendez, the Associated Press reported.

On Monday, the Obama administration announced targeted economic sanctions against 11 individuals involved in what the United States calls Russia's "illegal" incursion into Crimea. Critics, including defense hawks in Congress like Sen. John McCain, said that the sanctions were insufficient and that the United States should instead supply arms and training to the Ukrainians.

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The White House indicated earlier this week that further sanctions would be forthcoming.

While Obama has promised to ratchet up costs on Russia, he has made clear that the United States is ruling out the use of military force as an option in the ongoing conflict.

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Obama To Make Statement on Ukraine

WASHINGTON -- President Obama teased Ellen DeGeneres about the selfie she took at the Oscars and confessed to leaving his socks and shoes lying around while the first lady is out of town, but before the end of his Thursday appearance on the talk show he got to put in a plug for the Affordable Care Act.

Thats Obama's deal with popular media these days as the president enlists help in his effort to boost healthcare sign-up numbers before the March 31 enrollment deadline.

In recent days, Obama has filled out his March Madness brackets on ESPN, joked around with comedian Zach Galifianakison Between Two Ferns and defended his mom jeans on-air with radio host Ryan Seacrest -- all with the agreement that hed get a moment to pitch his healthcare plan.

The White House is aiming to bring young consumers into the fold, and not just because they represent roughly 40% of the uninsured population.

Young participants are more likely to pay into the system without drawing heavily on its benefits and are seen as key to ensuring the president's healthcare reform is economically viable.

Administration officials estimate they have signed up more than 5 million of the 6 million people they hope to enroll by the deadline -- a downward revision from the 7 million target they named before all the trouble with the rollout of the sign-up website, HealthCare.gov.

As healthcare experts predicted, young people are taking their time getting on board. Now, the White House is going after them through every media outlet and opinion leader they can mobilize. Validators, aides call them.

In order to reach them, said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, we have to, you know, be creative.

While the White House pushes that message, Republicans continue to argue that the reform law is fatally flawed and will harm the other end of the age spectrum. As Obama traveled to Orlando on Thursday, the office of House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said that, while in Florida, the president should answer questions about the reform law from seniors.

"The president has focused plenty of time and energy of late on young people," Boehner's office said in an afternoon news release. "Isnt it time he directly address older Americans who are bearing the brunt of his healthcare law? He shouldnt leave Florida today without doing so."

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Obama enlists DeGeneres, other celebrities in final healthcare push

U.S. President Barack Obama attends a Group of Seven meeting in The Hague in the coming week, called in response to the crisis in Ukraine.

Obama will also meet with leaders from 20 nations to discuss how to keep nuclear material out of terrorists hands.

U.S. consumer confidence, new home sales and personal spending data will be released.

The Federal Reserve will publish its second set of results from stress tests on the biggest U.S. banks.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella will debut Microsoft Office for Apple Inc.s iPad.

Companies releasing earnings include Walgreen Co. (WAG), Bank of China Ltd., Accenture Plc (ACN) and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA. (ISP)

-U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama continues her visit to China. Through March 26.

-European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio speaks in Washington. Constancio will give the keynote speech at the International Research Forum on Monetary Policy. 12:30 in Washington.

-Major League Baseball opens its regular season in Sydney as the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Arizona Diamondbacks at 19:00 (04:00 EDT) today and tomorrow, March 23. Baseballs official Opening Day is March 31.

-National Collegiate Athletic Association mens basketball tournament third-round games are played today and tomorrow, March 23. Click for schedule.

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Obama in Europe, Stress Tests, Microsoft: Week Ahead March 22-29

Ronald Reagan used to say the nine most terrifying words in the English language were: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Barack Obama is offering Americans his own twist on that message: He's from the government and he needs your help.

Frustrated by the inability of Congress and the White House to reach agreement on much of anything, the president is increasingly relying on his powers of persuasion to cajole people and organizations to help tackle some of the country's big problems voluntarily.

Lots of presidents promote volunteerism, of course. This is something different.

The president this year has exercised what the White House calls his "convening powers" to bring together influential groups to focus on the challenges facing young black men, the trials of the long-term unemployed and barriers to a college education that face the disadvantaged, among other things. He's held a student film festival to spotlight the need to improve technology in public schools. And coming up in June: a White House meeting on working families designed to push businesses to adopt more family-friendly policies and pay female employees on par with men.

Obama will pretty much try anything to mobilize support for his agenda: He turned up on the comic website Funny or Die recently to plug his health care law on Zach Galifianakis' mock interview show "Between Two Ferns." Within days, the interview had snagged 18 million views, on par with Justin Bieber. The same day as the interview, Obama went sweater shopping at a Gap store in Manhattan, a high-profile reward for a company that has moved voluntarily to boost the minimum wage for its workers.

It's all part of Obama's "pen and phone" strategy for 2014, in which he's signing more executive orders to advance his policies (the pen) and chatting up governors, businesses, foundations and others to generate action in the absence of new legislation (the phone).

With the multiplier effects of social media, the cajoler-in-chief can accomplish more than one might think, in the White House view.

"There are things that a president can do with his phone or with his convening authority, that Congress can't do," says Obama senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer. He points to the hundreds of companies who've heeded a presidential call and committed to do more to hire the long-term unemployed.

"That's something only the president really can do," Pfeiffer said.

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Obama Using Powers of Persuasion to Advance Agenda

ABC US News | ABC Business NewsCopy

Seeking to intensify pressure on Russia, President Barack Obama on Thursday expanded U.S. economic sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, targeting President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff and 19 other individuals as well as a Russian bank that provides them support.

Obama, warning of more costs to come for the Kremlin if the situation worsens, said he also had signed an executive order that would allow the U.S. to penalize key sectors of the Russian economy, including its huge energy business. Officials said Obama could act on that authority if Russian forces press into other areas of Ukraine, an escalation of the crisis in Crimea.

The president said the latest penalties were the result of "choices the Russian government has made, choices that have been rejected by the international community."

"Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community," Obama said, speaking from the South Lawn of the White House.

European Union leaders, too, said they would expand the number of people targeted with various sanctions and indicated they would cancel an EU-Russia summit. Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German parliament that if the crisis deepens in Crimea and Ukraine, the EU is prepared to move to economic sanctions on a higher level.

Russia retaliated quickly by imposing entry bans on American lawmakers and senior White House officials. Among them were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Obama's senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer and his deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, were also targets of the Russian entry bans.

Boehner's office said the speaker was "proud to be included on a list of those willing to stand against Putin's aggression."

The new American sanctions hit close advisers to Putin, including Sergei Ivanov, the Russian president's chief of staff and a longtime associate. Also targeted were Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, both lifelong Putin friends whose companies have amassed billions of dollars in government contracts.

Also sanctioned: Bank Rossiya, a private bank that is owned by Yuri Kovalchuk, who is considered to be Putin's banker.

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Obama Hits Russia With More Sanctions Amid 'Grave Concern'