By Adriel Bettelheim, CQ Staff

Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Tuesday pointedly warned Congress not to include earmarks in a new economic stimulus package and said negotiators had not yet completed an outline or set spending limits for the plan.

President-elect Barack Obama ’s transition team and congressional leaders are scrambling to set the parameters for a broad package expected to contain $650 billion to $850 billion of initiatives that Congress can act on in early January.

At the beginning of a meeting with members of Obama’s economic team, Biden told Congress not to attach special-interest provisions or local projects to the legislation.

“There will be — I will say it again — there will be no earmarks in this economic recovery plan,” Biden said. “I know it’s Christmas. I know it’s the Christmas season. But President-elect Obama and I are absolutely determined that this economic recovery package will not become a Christmas tree.”

Biden and members of the economic team said the plan would significantly increase spending on roads and bridges, health care and efforts to modernize buildings to make them more energy-efficient.

But Biden deferred on the timing of the plan. Democratic leaders had hoped to roll out an outline before Christmas.

“You get to see what’s in the package when we’ve completed the package, and when we’ve negotiated a little bit more with our colleagues in the House and Senate,” Biden said. “Keep in mind that it’s really important that this package when submitted to the Hill succeed and pass,” he said, adding the stimulus was “the most urgent order of business for the new administration.”

Biden said negotiators were getting close to establishing a top-line spending figure and vowed that 85 percent of the jobs created would be in the private sector.

“It’s clear that we’re all on the same page including our Republican colleagues. This has to be substantial. It has to create jobs immediately,” Biden said.

The stimulus talks have prompted feverish lobbying from numerous groups, with public ports, the aviation industry and labor and environmental organizations each pitching special projects and considerations to be included in the final bill.