Obama team, Congress fleshing out stimulus bill
Written by DJ Special Blend from Chicago on December 20, 2008
WASHINGTON—- President-elect Barack Obama’s team and congressional staff are scrambling to come up with details of a plan to pump up the droopy economy with $650 billion or more in government spending over the next few years.
The aides met in the basement of the Capitol on Friday to devise ways to pump public money into science, energy, education, health care and infrastructure programs, as well as to help the poor and unemployed.
They hope unleashing a torrent of spending in the near term will create jobs and lift the economy.
But the amounts of money under consideration are so enormous — larger than either the Pentagon’s annual budget or the entire domestic budget passed each year by Congress — that it’s likely to prove challenging to spend so much without wasting taxpayer dollars.
Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress want to enact the still-emerging plan as soon as possible after he takes office on Jan. 20. They hope to agree on an outline by Christmas, said a House Democratic leadership aide, who requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks.
Reader's opinions
Leave a Reply
You must be logged into post a comment.
The Go-To-Man Mattie T. On December 22, 2008 at 6:30 am
3 million new jobs in 2 years…this man is AMAZING.