November 24, 2008 - President-elect Barack Obama said November 24 that in light of the deepening economic crisis, three key elements of his economic stimulus plan will be to expand renewable power, repair and expand new infrastructure and retool the auto industry to make more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
"We're entering into a new energy economy," Obama said November 24 at a news conference in Chicago.
During the Democratic Party's weekly radio address November 22, Obama said his economic team is working on a plan to create or save 2.5 million jobs within two years.
He said he wants Congress to pass legislation supporting the plan immediately after convening on January 6 so he can sign it when he is sworn in on January 20.
The plan would be the largest public works and federal job creation program since the Great Depression.
He expanded upon that clean energy goal Monday and said his economic team - which he rolled out at the news conference - would advise him on how to proceed. "
The first job of my economic team is to shape that economic stimulus package," Obama said.
He did not commit to how much the program could cost, but various reports have put the number at about $700 billion. "We need a big stimulus package," he said. "We have to put people back to work."
Obama said deficit spending would have to fund the program in the early years.
His own tax cut plan would raise taxes on the wealthy and cut taxes for the middle class, but he added that he would consider holding off on that plan and let President Bush's tax cuts expire in two years.
"It's going to be costly," Obama warned, adding that the plan would add to the already bloated $482 billion deficit. "There is a consensus among the political spectrum that we need a stimulus," he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said two committee chairmen were working on bills to help Obama. Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, is drafting a bill to fund clean energy and infrastructure job creation, while Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, is crafting a middle-class tax-cut proposal.
"We will work with the president-elect and his team so that 111th Congress can immediately act upon this new direction for our economy," Pelosi said.
The president-elect opened the news conference by announcing appointments for his economic team, including Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary.
Other planned nominees include Lawrence Summers - who ran Treasury under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s - as the head of the National Economic Council, Christina Romer as head of the Council of Economic Advisors and Melody Barnes as director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Next page: Obama vows to push climate plan
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