by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama, summoning business leaders to the White House this morning to rally support for his $825-billion economic stimulus plan, made a public appeal for rapid congressional approval of the package.
"When it comes to rebuilding our economy, we don't have a moment to spare,'' Obama said in an address staged in the East Room of the White House and carried live by cable television news networks on this day that the House is preparing to cast the first, and most likely successful, vote on the stimulus plan.
"Corporate America will have to accept its own responsibilities to its workers
and the American public,'' said Obama, reiterating a promise that his plan will create or save 3 to 4 million jobs in the next few years. "But these executives also understand that
without wise leadership in Washington, even the best-run businesses can't do as well as they might.
"The vast majority of these jobs will be created in the private sector,'' Obama said. "In the end, the end to our economic troubles lies less in my hands'' than it does in the hands of American workers and the companies that employ them.
"All we can do, those of us here in Washington, is to help create... an environment in which business can prosper,'' Obama said. "That's exactly what I intend to achieve - soon.''
As the House prepares to cast the first vote today, Obama is asking for a bill that he can sign by President's Day, Feb. 16.
(Photo of Obama in East Room by Charles Dharapak / AP)
The president today also reiterated a pledge to ensure that every dollar of the stimulus package is spent wisely, promising to to monitor that spending at a new Web-site, www.recovery.gov.
"I know that there are some that are skeptical about the size... of this recovery plan... and I understand that skepticism,'' Obama said. "Instead of just throwing money at our problems, we will try something new in Washington - we will invest in what works... We will launch a sweeping effort to root out waste.''
The stimulus bill isn't the only step that the Obama White House is taking in an immediate approach to the economic crisis that the nation confronts. Stocks opened higher in early trading on Wall Street this morning amid word that the Obama administration also is considering creating a bank to absorb bad assets weighing down banks that have reported multibillion-dollar losses.
The prospect of a so-called "bad bank'' has buoyed investors concerned that banks cannot resume normal lending without some way to "wall off'' bad debt weighing down their balance sheets.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is discussing ways of re-channeling what remains of an initial $700-billion bailout of the financial markets that Congress approved at the urging of former President Bush in the final months of his administration.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index, a benchmark for the overall stock market, rose this morning in its fourth straight trading session of increases. Other indicators rose as well this morning.
Obama's $825-billion plan to boost the economy is all but certain to win initial approval in the first round of voting today in the House, where Democrats hold the votes to pass it. Republicans are lining up against the measure, complaining that it contains too little tax relief and too much new government spending.
In the Senate, moderate Republicans are working with Democratic leaders in fashioning a measure that ultimately may become more palatable to some of its Republican critics.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), appearing on ABC News' Good Morning America today, complained that the stimulus plan is laden with new government spending - and borrowing to support it - spending that "has nothing to do with creating jobs or preserving jobs...''
The Obama administration has acceded to tax cuts in the measure, but insists that the preponderance of the package must deliver spending that can jumpstart a stalled economy.
The White House has maintained confidence that early sparring over the bill should not be taken as a sign of trouble for the measure. "The clock's not at zero,'' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on Tuesday.
Obama invited business executives to the White House this morning to court support for a plan based on about $600 billion in new spending, plus tax cuts aimed at winning Republican support.
Among them: Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Xerox Chairman Anne Mulcahy, Motorola President Greg Brown and IBM Chairman Sam Palmisano, as well as chief executives of Honeywell, Kodak, Aetna and other major corporations.
"Their ideas and their concerns have helped shaped this recovery package,'' Obama said at a meeting with the executives before they joined him for the address in the East Room.
Palmisano helped introduce the president in the East Room with a public call for business support for Obama's plans.
"These are people who make things, who hire people,'' the president said. "They are on the front lines in seeing the enormous problems in our economy right now. Their ideas and their concerns have helped to shape our recovery package, and I'm grateful that they're here today to talk about why it's so important that we act, and act swiftly, in order to get this economy back on track.''
Posted by Mark Silva on January 28, 2009 12:00 PM