Congress Will Work Through January to Send Obama Economic Stimulus Package

“In his first major economic announcement since the election, President-elect Obama proposed billions of dollars in new government spending that will come at a burdensome cost to American families and small businesses,” RNC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson said in a statement. “The ‘cuts and sacrifices’ that President-elect Obama advocates will not be made by his friends in Washington, but rather by job creators facing devastating tax increases across America.”

The statement was an indication that Republicans will remain resistant to core elements of the Democrats’ stimulus plans, though they will no longer have the threat of a presidential veto to back them up.

Still, it was clear Democratic leaders will move fast, even if they need to enlist some GOP backing in the Senate as the stimulus plan takes shape.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., agreed swift action is needed. “With the cooperation of our Republican colleagues, we intend to send a plan to the White House as soon as possible following President-elect Obama’s inauguration,” Reid said in a Monday statement.

“We will work quickly to pass a substantial economic recovery package that creates good-paying jobs here in America, cuts taxes for the middle class and stabilizes a volatile market,” Reid added.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., said Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey , D-Wis., “is already working to draft legislation that will help create new jobs by investing in a cleaner energy future, build a high-tech infrastructure that brings the power of renewable energy and broadband to communities across America, rebuild our bridges and modernize our schools.”

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., she added, “is working with the new administration on a tax cut proposal that will make the tax code more fair for the middle class.”

Cautious on Auto Bailout

Obama seconded last week’s comments of Democratic congressional leaders on a bailout for the auto industry, saying that while “we can’t allow the auto industry simply to vanish,” industry executives must present a credible plan for recovery.

“[W]e can’t just write a blank check to the auto industry. Taxpayers can’t be expected to pony up more money for an auto industry that has been resistant to change,” he said. “And I was surprised that they did not have a better-thought-out proposal when they arrived” on Capitol Hill last week, begging for an emergency $25 billion loan. “I think Congress did the right thing, which is to say, ‘You guys need to come up with a plan and come back before you’re getting any taxpayer money.’”

Congress has asked Detroit to deliver a plan for the emergency loan with details about how the industry plans to achieve long-term viability by Dec. 2.

Economics Team

Obama’s list of his top economic team contained no surprises.

Congress Will Work Through January to Send Obama Economic Stimulus Package

He said he had tapped Timothy F. Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to succeed Paulson as Treasury secretary.

As chairman of the National Economic Council, he turned to Lawrence Summers, a former Harvard University president who served as Treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

Christina D. Romer, economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1988, was named to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

And Melody C. Barnes, a former chief counsel to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., on the Senate Judiciary Committee who served as the senior domestic policy advisor to the Obama campaign, was named to chair the White House Domestic Policy Council.

Missing from the appointments announced Monday were two other high-profile prospects whose names have been repeatedly floated as likely selections: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson , for secretary of Commerce, and Peter R. Orszag, currently director of the Congressional Budget Office, for director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

The Senate is expected to move swiftly to confirm Obama’s picks for top posts.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., praised the selection of Geithner as Treasury secretary and promised speedy confirmation hearings.

“This has the makings of the best economic team ever assembled,” Baucus said.

Obama took pains to praise Summers, who reportedly had been in the running to resume his old job as Treasury secretary but was passed over for Geithner, in part because of his abrasive style and the enemies he made while president of Harvard.

“Larry has urged us to confront the problems of income inequality and the middle-class squeeze, consistently arguing that the key to a strong economy is a strong, vibrant, growing middle class. This idea is at the core of my own economic philosophy and will be the foundation of all of my economic policies,” Obama said.

And one key Republican — Charles E. Grassley , ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee — sounded a far more positive note than the RNC.

“During the campaign, the kind of change that the President-elect promised was so undefined it made me nervous. Now that he’s appointing familiar faces from the Clinton administration to very high-level positions I’m less concerned,” Grassley said in a statement.