Your next president arrived in D.C. tonight arriving aboard a government aircraft. He is meeting on Monday with House and Senate leadership, both Democrats and Republicans. He's also meeting with his own economic team in the afternoon.
Also, word tonight is that a big chunk of Obama's stimulus package is going to be tax cuts. He wants GOP votes:
President-elect Barack Obama plans to include about $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses in his economic recovery program as he seeks to win over Congressional skeptics worried that he was too focused on government spending, advisers said Sunday.No doubt, we'll be hearing much, much more about this in the next few days.
The legislation Mr. Obama’s team is developing with Congressional Democrats will devote about 40 percent of the cost to tax cuts, including his centerpiece campaign promise to provide credits up to $500 for most workers, costing roughly $150 billion. The package will also include more than $100 billion in tax incentives for businesses to create jobs and invest in equipment or factories.
The overall package, of $675 billion to $775 billion, is taking shape as Mr. Obama arrived in Washington and planned to begin trying to build support in Congress and among the broader public for his approach to stimulating the economy. Mr. Obama, who flew to the capital on Sunday to join his family in a hotel suite while awaiting his inauguration, planned to meet with Congressional leaders on Monday and deliver a speech on Thursday laying the ground for his emerging economic program.
Although some tax cuts were always expected to be included in Mr. Obama’s economic package, his team disclosed the scope and some details of the plans on Sunday at a time when Republicans have begun voicing criticism of what they describe as an open-checkbook approach to spending. By focusing more attention on the tax cuts in the plan, Obama aides hope to frame it as a balanced, pragmatic approach.
