President steps up pitch for recovery
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President Obama stepped up his sales pitch yesterday for his economic recovery plan, listing the household names - Sprint, Caterpillar, and other companies - that in the last few days have each announced they are slashing thousands of jobs.
"These are not just numbers on a page. As with the millions of jobs lost in 2008, these are working men and women whose families have been disrupted and whose dreams have been put on hold," Obama said at a White House news conference.
"We owe it to each of them and to every single American to act with a sense of urgency and common purpose. We can't afford distractions and we cannot afford delays."
Obama is heading to Capitol Hill today to talk about the plan to House Republicans, who are balking at much of the spending and pressing for more tax cuts. The president is "genuinely sincere about hearing their cares and concerns," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.
"We don't have pride of authorship," Gibbs added. "We understand that this is a process of give and take in order to produce what the president believes is the strongest plan to get the economy going again."
Senate committees are scheduled to take up the massive economic stimulus package today and the full House is expected to vote on its version of the $825 billion plan tomorrow.
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The Homeland Security Department had originally imposed the unusual directive days before Obama's election, an order that would have affected Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father. She had been instructed to leave the country four years ago by an immigration judge who rejected her request for asylum from her native Kenya.
The unusual directive from Immigration and Customs Enforcement expressed concerns about "negative media or congressional interest," and made clear that US officials worried about possible election implications of arresting Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father. She is now believed to be living in Cleveland.
An immigration judge stayed her deportation order on Dec. 17. The judge reopened her case requesting asylum on Dec. 30, and she has a hearing on April 1 in a Boston immigration court, Elaine Komis, a spokeswoman for the US Executive Office of Immigration Review, said yesterday.
Onyango traveled to Washington last week for her nephew's inauguration. News organizations observed her attending an inaugural ball with her immigration lawyer, Margaret Wong.
Obama has said he didn't know his aunt was living in the United States illegally and believes that laws covering the situation should be followed.
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