The New York Times - WASHINGTON — Two weeks before assuming power, President-elect Barack Obama took his economic recovery package to Capitol Hill on Monday and worked to build a bipartisan coalition to endorse his plan of tax cuts and new spending with an urgent appeal “to break the momentum of this recession.
Mr. Obama, on his first full day in Washington since the election, held a series of face-to-face meetings with Democrats and Republicans as he began spending his political capital. He spoke of the nation’s economic condition in dark terms and urged Congress to pass the legislation within a month.
“Right now, the most important task for us is to stabilize the patient,” Mr. Obama said. “The economy is badly damaged — it is very sick. So we have to take whatever steps are required to make sure that it is stabilized.”
The meetings were a mix of symbolism and substance between the man who will be sworn in as the 44th president and the Congressional leaders who hold the fate of his agenda in their hands. The sessions, aides said, were particularly aimed at encouraging Republicans to buy into the plan and help ease resistance over a $775 billion price tag. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/us/politics/06stimulus.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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