Obama hears GOP stimulus concerns

President Obama huddled Friday with top congressional negotiators over a massive $825 billion stimulus bill to boost the economy, hearing Republican concerns about the package but sticking to a mid-February deadline to get the package passed and to his desk.

Mr. Obama told the bipartisan gathering that the daily briefings he receives from his top economic aides have been unremittingly grim in recent days. The closed-door get-together in the White House Cabinet Room was designed to lobby for quick action and tamp down complaints from Republicans who charge they are not being heard.

Republicans lawmakers gave Mr. Obama good marks for listening to their points, but said they remained concerned that the Democratic majorities in Congress will not be as accommodating when the massive $825 billion stimulus is hustled through the legislative process.

“We have serious concerns with the path congressional Democrats are taking, not the least of which is that virtually none of the money in their bill goes to small business to create jobs,” said House Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia after the meeting.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, who presented the new president with his party’s alternative stimulus program at the meeting, said that he and others expressed concerns over some of the proposed spending.

“I’m concerned about the size of the package, and I’m concerned about some of the spending that’s in there,” he said. The House Republican alternative relies heavily on tax cuts instead of new government spending to prime the economy.

But leaders of both parties said the prospects remained good that a bill could be passed by Mr. Obama’s mid-February deadline, even as the president warned that the news on the country’s economy is growing grimmer by the day.

“Frankly, the news has not been good. Each day brings, I think, a greater focus on the problems that we’re having, not only in terms of job loss, but also in terms of some of the instabilities in the financial system,” Mr. Obama said at the start of the meeting.

The press was then ushered out so the meeting could be held in private, a normal occurrence for most meetings at the White House under other presidents.

A Republican source familiar with the conversation told The Washington Times that Mr. Obama told GOP leaders their goals seemed “achievable.”

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to freely disclose details from the private meeting, said opposing party leaders were pleased the president listened to their ideas.

Democratic leaders offered “talking points” and no real specifics about their proposals during the meeting, the source added. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel noted that Mr. Obama plans a “fiscal responsibility” summit next month to deal with the long-term need to address the federal deficit even as the short-term spending and tax cuts go forward.

At one point, Mr. Cantor asked to pass around the five-point GOP plan, which “caught the Democrats and President Obama a little bit by surprise.”

The source said the remainder of the meeting was dominated by a discussion of the Republican ideas, and the Democrats did not seem pleased.

“The president then said of the Republican plan that ‘nothing on here looks outlandish or crazy to me,’ and that some of the goals could be achievable,” the source said.

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