GOP demands say on stimulus

Obama cites 'urgent' need; Republicans see waste in haste

Barack Obama waved farewell in Honolulu Thursday as he and his wife, Michelle, boarded their flight for Chicago. Obama is to arrive tomorrow in Washington, where he will continue pressing for quick passage of an economic rescue plan. (GETTY IMAGES)

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama will arrive in Washington tomorrow and renew his push for a plan to rescue the struggling US economy - including an estimated $600 billion to $800 billion stimulus package that a growing number of skeptical Republicans signal they may fight.

After a two-week vacation in his native Hawaii, Obama plans to meet Monday with the two top Democrats in Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, to discuss the stimulus bill, which Obama wants to sign on the day he takes office, Jan. 20, as his first official act as president.

In his weekly radio address to the nation, Obama will call today for Republicans and Democrats to work together "with the urgency this moment demands" to pass a stimulus bill that reinvests in the nation and puts people back to work.

"Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don't act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double digit unemployment and the American Dream slipping further and further out of reach," Obama says in his taped remarks.

The nation, he adds, needs a plan that "not only creates jobs in the short term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long term. And this plan must be designed in a new way - we can't just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem."

Obama will benefit from a bigger Democratic majority in both houses of the new Congress that convenes Tuesday, but leading GOP lawmakers declare they have had little say and warned yesterday that they will use their power to sidetrack any stimulus bill until they are satisfied.

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican in the Senate, said in a statement yesterday that he agrees with Obama that jump-starting the economy "is job one." But he insisted that "every dollar needs to be spent wisely and not wasted in the rush to get it spent."

Citing Obama's promise to eliminate waste by scrutinizing the federal budget "line by line," McConnell said Republicans want to do the same thing to the stimulus bill, "page by page, line by line - eliminating those programs we don't need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way."

McConnell's House counterpart, Representative John Boehner of Ohio, said it is "essential that this legislation be debated in a fair, open, and honest way." Congress, he said in a statement, should have public hearings, post any bill online, and must eliminate "special-interest earmarks."

But Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland - a Pelosi ally who has close contact with the Obama transition team - said the House leadership wants to get a stimulus bill to Obama's desk by Inauguration Day. "That may not be possible, but this is an urgent situation," he told Bloomberg News yesterday.

Meanwhile, the president-elect's advisers are considering a "buy American" requirement to be included in any stimulus legislation, which is expected to include a significant amount of public works and infrastructure projects. Obama transition spokeswoman Jen Psaki told Bloomberg that the proposal could boost the goal to "save or create 3 million jobs, including jobs in manufacturing."

The legislative jockeying came amid more indications that the economy could turn even weaker in 2009. An index released yesterday found that December manufacturing activity sank to its lowest point in 28 years, reaching across economic sectors - from bakeries to aluminum smelters.

Yesterday, a group of influential Democratic governors pressed the federal government for a $1 trillion stimulus package for the states over the next two years that would include $250 billion for education in an effort to avoid inflicting irreversible damage to schools during a fiscal crisis.

The proposal, crafted by Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and others, would set aside $350 billion for a wide array of infrastructure projects, including road and bridge construction; extending the reach of Internet broadband; affordable housing; and energy efficiency.

Since his historic election in November, the economy has dominated Obama's agenda. He has a full schedule next week in Washington, and despite his insistence that there is only one president at a time, his team could have the appearance of an administration in waiting.

However, a White House spokesman yesterday said he doesn't see the Obama team as a parallel administration. "President Bush uniquely understands the role and the job that President-elect Obama is about to take . . . and understands that he needs to put a team together," deputy press secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters.

In a letter sent Tuesday to House Democrats, Pelosi outlined an agenda that calls for passing an economic stimulus plan "with deliberate speed." Her agenda includes a Wednesday meeting with economic heavyweights such as Robert Reich, President Clinton's labor secretary, and Mark Zandi, an influential economist. The meeting, she wrote, will be to discuss ways "to safeguard as many as three million jobs by making needed investments in infrastructure, alternative energy, science, and other emerging sectors and providing middle-class tax cuts."

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers - Obama's choice for his top economic adviser - lobbied for the president-elect's plan with an op-ed piece published Sunday in The Washington Post. Citing "the bleakest economic outlook since World War II," Summers warned that hard times can only be reversed through bold measures.

"In this crisis, doing too little poses a greater threat than doing too much," Summers said. "Any sound economic strategy in the current context must be directed at both creating the jobs that Americans need and doing the work that our economy requires."

But Republican opposition could complicate or delay Obama's plans. Boehner, McConnell, and others say they are concerned that the president-elect's proposal could add as much as $1 trillion to the already massive federal deficit and lacks enough detail to get it passed by Jan. 20.

"There is no bill to pass. That's one of our concerns," said an aide to one top Republican, accusing Democrats of moving to ramrod a bill through Congress whether Republicans agree or not. He said Congress spent a week debating the name of a post office and should to devote more time than that to a spending bill.

But Van Hollen said Republicans will have a seat at the table when the stimulus package is created and reminded his GOP colleagues to heed the message voters delivered in the election less than two months ago.

Some Republicans, he said, want to continue the ideological fight with Democrats, but others think the economic challenges require working together. "I'm hopeful that the Republicans will choose that course."

Matt Viser of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.