By Liriel Higa, CQ Staff

The White House continued Tuesday to play down the need for a second economic stimulus package, a day after House Democrats met with economists to discuss the potential contents of such a package.

“What they have presented before couldn’t pass the Congress itself, and it was not something that we thought would actually stimulate the economy and have an immediate impact,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

The items that Democrats mentioned Monday generally had been discussed before, such as extending unemployment insurance benefits, providing aid to states for Medicaid programs, food stamp funding and infrastructure money.

Pelosi has asked committees to hold hearings on those potential elements. The Budget Committee is tentatively planning to hold a hearing Oct. 20. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is also planning a hearing but has not yet set a date. The infrastructure component is expected to fund projects that would be ready to go within 90 to 120 days.

Although the House and Senate voted on similar stimulus packages before recessing, the Senate failed to draw the 60 votes necessary to proceed on considering its bill (S 3604), voting down the motion, 52-42. It is unclear how a post-election lame duck session might affect the outcome. The House passed its bill (HR 7110) by a vote of 264-158.

Perino made clear that the White House is focused on implementing the financial sector rescue legislation that occupied Congress in its last weeks (PL 110-343).

“We think the best way to get the economy moving is to implement this plan that the Treasury Secretary laid out today. So we’ll take a look at it,” Perino said. “Our highest priority has to be right now the economic rescue package and the implementation, and getting it right so that we solve the problem in the credit markets and also protect the taxpayer at the same time.”

Colby Itkowitz contributed to this story.