Obama retrains sights on economy

After declaring a new era in American diplomacy abroad on Thursday, President Obama returns his focus today to the teetering economy.

This morning, he met with congressional leaders of both parties on his economic recovery plan, which Democrats and Republicans alike want to tweak.

Before the private session, Obama thanked the leadership, including for moving forward on his cabinet nominations, and for "diligently" working on the stimulus plan.

"I know that it is a heavy lift to do something as substantial as we're doing right now," Obama said. "I recognize that there are still some differences around the table and between the administration and members of Congress about particularly details on the plan.

"But what I think unifies this group is a recognition that we are experiencing a unprecedented, perhaps, economic crisis that has to be dealt with, and dealt with rapidly," he added.

Obama said his daily briefing from chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers, the former Harvard president and treasury secretary, "brings greater focus on the problems we're having" and the news has not been good on job losses and instability in the financial sector.

Obama said it appears that the administration and Congress are "on target" to get the package approved by mid-February.

According to the White House, those invited to the meeting were: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor.

After the meeting, Boehner and McConnell said they still want the stimulus plan focused on tax cuts, and raised concerns that the infrastructure spending could go into wasteful pork-barrel projects.

But they said they were willing to negotiate with Obama and were optimistic about reaching agreement.

"We expressed our concerns about some of the spending that's being proposed in the House bill and the fact that it doesn't spend out very quickly -- it's almost too late -- and had concerns about -- obviously, about the size of the package," Boehner said.

"Because at the end of the day, this is not our money to spend. We're borrowing this money from our kids. And so we've got to -- we have to find a package that's the right size."

Pelosi said that the meeting was "very encouraging" and that Obama listened to suggestions, especially from Republicans.

She said she's confident that Congress will be able to reach more bipartisan agreement and have a bill on Obama's desk before the President's Day recess that starts Feb. 14.

"The president was leading us to be united, not divided," Reid said.

Asked about Republican concerns about the size of the plan, Pelosi said, "It's not just about how big the package is. It's about how fast jobs are created and how those initiatives that were added in the spending will contribute to long-term stabilization of our economy. And we have to keep in mind the impact of the spending in terms of our deficit.

"So the package will be as big as it can be successful on the tax side and on the investment side," she added.

Thursday, the powerful House Ways and Means Committee passed a key element of the $275 billion tax cut portion of the $825 billion stimulus plan. The party-line vote endorsed a tax break for this year and 2010 that would mean $500 for individuals and $1,000 for couples, including people who pay no federal income tax.

Later today, Obama plans to meet with his pick for treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner. His nomination was endorsed by the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday and is expected to approved by the full Senate on Monday.