Top Three Questions on Stimulus Package

January 08, 2009 6:51 PM

While President-elect Barack Obama has the votes now he needs to pass his economic stimulus plan -- or some version of it, there is some grumbling.

We saw leading Senate Democrats complain about the tax cuts in the package today. They wondered if they're really going to work.

But I would group the concerns into three main questions some leading lawmakers have:

1) Can the money get out very, very quickly?

2) Will the spending programs really be temporary?

3) Can this package be targeted to create the most jobs per dollar to get the most bang for the buck?

That's what the debate is over right now on Capitol Hill.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 8, 2009 in Barack Obama, Capitol Hill | Permalink | User Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Obama Has Votes Now to Pass Stimulus Plan

January 08, 2009 12:16 PM

During his economic speech today titled "The Need for Urgent Action on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan" President-elect Barack Obama urged congress three times to pass an economic stimulus package without delay.

He's been just as adamant with bipartisan Congressional leaders on the need to act quickly.

What we saw today was the President-elect essentially giving a State of the Union-type of address on the economy -- even before he is officially President-elect.

It's all because the economic crisis facing the nation is so unprecedented.

If he is successful, he will have passed probably the largest piece of legislation of his presidency in his first 30 days.

We've never seen anything like this before.

He's going to run into a fair amount of skepticism in Congress on this stimulus package.

But he's also done a fair amount of work to get buy-in from both Democrats and Republicans.

About 40 percent of this package will be tax cuts -- which has gone a long way to soften some Republican opposition.

They might be opposed to many other parts of the plan such as some of the spending proposals.

Democrats and Republicans that I talk to on Capitol Hill say that Obama certainly has the votes he needs in the House and likely already has 60 votes in the Senate.

But his goal is to get it up to 80 Senate votes . . . to have complete buy-in from both parties.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 8, 2009 in Barack Obama, Capitol Hill, Democrats, Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (39) | TrackBack (0)

Obama's Intelligence Announcement

January 08, 2009 12:00 PM

ABC News has learned that President-elect Obama is debating whether the current deputy director of the CIA, 27-year agency veteran Stephen Kappes, will be present when Obama unveils his Intelligence Team Friday. The President-elect will likely keep Kappes in his current No. 2 role.

This step would largely be done as a way of placating critics who have expressed concern about his pick for CIA director, former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, and said he lacks direct intelligence experience.

Some, such as both Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the incoming chair of the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, the outgoing chair, have made it clear that they would have liked to have seen an intelligence professional get the director's job, with Kappes's name often mentioned.

Including Kappes in the announcement, the Obama Transition Team hopes, will symbolize that the agency will be run by both an outsider who has the confidence of the president, and a longtime insider -- the best of both worlds.

Mr. Obama's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, Retired Admiral Dennis Blair, will also be formally announced.

-- Jake Tapper and George Stephanopoulos

UPDATE: This post has been updated.

January 8, 2009 in Barack Obama | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Senate Deal in Works for Burris

January 07, 2009 8:49 AM

Would-be Sen. Roland Burris of Illinois is expected to meet this morning with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the senior senator from Illinois Democratic Whip Sen. Dick Durbin.

Senate leaders are still hoping to work out that deal that I first reported on on Monday. 

The deal is that they would find a way to seat Mr. Burris if he agrees not to run for reelection in 2010. They're concerned that he couldn't win that race for the Democrats.

The Lt. Gov. of Illinois is also signaling that he could go along with that deal.

If Burris agrees to that, I think he could get seated in the U.S. Senate.

But so far, Burris not giving an inch. No sign yet that he would accept the terms.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 7, 2009 in Capitol Hill | Permalink | User Comments (23) | TrackBack (0)

'This Week' Sunday Exclusive: President-Elect Barack Obama

January 07, 2009 7:31 AM

Join me this Sunday morning for our exclusive interview with President-elect Barack Obama -- his first Sunday morning interview since coming to Washington, D.C.

Our exclusive one-on-one with the president-elect kicks off ABC News’ week-long series on the economy, “America’s Economy: What’s the Fix?”

I sit down with Obama just as Congress is on the verge of introducing the economic stimulus package.

We'll cover all the big issues facing Obama in his first hundred days. 

We'll also find out how his family is settling into life in Washington.

Don't miss it.

If you have a question for the president-elect, email me HERE.

On our roundtable: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, The New York Times' Thomas Friedman, The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan, and ABC News’ George Will join me to debate the week’s politics.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 7, 2009 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (19) | TrackBack (0)

Obama Adamant Economic Stimulus Package Signed By President's Day

January 06, 2009 6:58 PM

A lot of work went on behind the scenes in Washington today on President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus package.

I've been told to expect the bill to be introduced in Congress probably on Monday.

Hearings and markups for the bill are expected in the House and the Senate as early as next week.

Votes are expected to begin in the House shortly after Obama is inaugurated on Jan. 20th.

Obama is signaling a lot of flexibility in these meetings he's having with congressional leaders about the details of the bill.

But the one thing he's adamant about is timing. The president-elect wants this bill on his desk for signature by President's Day on Feb. 16.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 6, 2009 in Barack Obama | Permalink | User Comments (40) | TrackBack (0)

Obama Teams Defends Panetta CIA Pick

January 05, 2009 6:50 PM

Obama officials are defending the president-elect's pick of Leon Panetta to lead the CIA.

They say that in his role as former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff and a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, Panetta gained significant intelligence experience.

Panetta also served on the Iraq Study Group.

But there are some unhappy Democratic senators tonight who say they weren't consulted on the pick.

I spoke with the incoming chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Sen. Dianne Feinstein who told me she was "staggered" that she wasn't called.

She's not the only one.

Feinstein has a history of saying that this job should be reserved for intelligence professionals.

She isn't going so far as to say that she'll vote against Panetta's appointment, but it's clear the Obama team has some work to do here.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 5, 2009 in Barack Obama | Permalink | User Comments (86) | TrackBack (0)

Impossible for Obama to Keep Richardson

January 04, 2009 6:29 PM

That the Obama transition team didn't know about these allegations against Gov. Bill Richardson is shocking.

A Google search would have shown that this investigation has been going on for some time. This has been an issue in New Mexico for a while with the Albuquerque Journal reporting on it for several months. 

It would be very surprising if this is something that was missed by the Obama team.

But what I think happened is the fact that the FBI investigation into pay-to-play allegations isn't closed out, combined with all of the focus on the Gov. Rod Blagojevich's corruption scandal makes it more difficult for Richardson to survive politically. And that made it impossible for President-elect Obama to keep him right now.

But this isn't likely to distract Obama for long. He faces so many other challenges of such magnitude. Obama is coming to Capitol Hill tomorrow to talk about his economic plan.

That, combined with the Israeli ground war in Gaza, and the panoply of national security challenges he'll face when he takes office.

This Richardson hiccup is likely to be a small blip -- especially if they are able to come in with a easy-to-confirm replacement for Gov. Richardson in the next week or so.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 4, 2009 in Barack Obama | Permalink | User Comments (43) | TrackBack (0)

McConnell Proposes State Loans, Middle Class Tax Cut

January 04, 2009 11:00 AM

The top Republican in the Senate proposed for the first time on "This Week" that the government pass an immediate middle-class tax cut.

"A possibility would be to take a look at 25 percent [tax] rate currently applied to the middle class and lower it to 15 percent," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told me on "This Week."

McConnell also proposed that an economic stimulus money designated for states be a loan, not a grant.

"We want to be a part of the process, and it might make sense to lend the money to the states that will make them spend it more wisely," he said, "Nobody thinks that we ought to be spending this money on mob museums and waterslides and if the money were lent rather than just granted, states would, I think, spend it wisely and the states that didn't need it at all wouldn't take any."

President-Elect Barack Obama has said he wants to sign an economic stimulus package on Jan. 20th when he is sworn in.

However, McConnell said Republicans are pushing for bipartisan hearings on Obama's economic stimulus plan.

"We want to make sure that it's not just a trillion dollar spending bill," McConnell told me. "What I worry about here, George, is the haste with which this may be done. This is an enormous bill, it could be a trillion dollar spending spend. Do we want to do it with essentially no hearings and no input for example in the senate from Republican senators who represent half the American population. I don't think that's a good idea."

McConnell also suggested the Senate look at nine appropriations bills that would spend $400-billion in economic spending.

"It's already been vetted, been looked at by both Democrats and Republicans which could pass on a largely bipartisan basis," McConnell said. "Much of that spending is related to the kinds of items that could end up in the trillion dollar spending package so that's a place to start."

McConnell also questioned Obama's proposal to create 20 percent of the jobs in the public sector.

"That would be 600, 000 new government jobs," he said. "That's about the size of the post office workforce. Is that a good idea? That's something that strikes us that we ought to look at."

In our interview on "This Week" Sen. Dick Durbin told me on that senators need to put aside bipartisan squabbling.

"We can't pass the economic recovery plan that this nation desperately needs without bipartisan cooperation," Durbin said, "We've got to put aside a lot of the squabbling of the past and come together under this administration and new leadership to get the American economy back on line."

--George Stephanopoulos

January 4, 2009 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)

Durbin: Burris Rejection 'Not About Race'

January 04, 2009 10:12 AM

I asked Democratic whip Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois this morning what happens when Roland Burris comes to Washington, DC this week to claim the Senate seat he thinks is his?

"I've know Roland Burris for over 30 years," Durbin told me on "This Week.'  "No one's raised any questions about his integrity or his personal background. It's a question about the process."

Durbin said while disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the state constitutional authority to fill President-Elect Barack Obama's senate seat vacancy, the U.S. Senate has the U.S. constitutional responsibility to decide if Burris was chosen in a responsible way.

"Rod Blagojevich has brought questions, raised questions on how this process unfolded," Durbin said, "not reflecting personally on Roland Burris but to make sure that in the end, the person representing the state of Illinois, serving with me in the United States Senate was brought to that position responsibly."

Durbin said unlike Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, Burris won't be seated provisionally.

"In her case it was a matter of counting the votes," Durbin said, "In Illinois, sadly, because of the allegations against Gov. Blagojevich, there's a question of corruption."

Durbin defended Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid against reports in the Chicago Sun-Times that Reid advised Blagojevich not to pick African American members of Congress.

"It is an outrage that the Blagojevich people in the last days of their administration facing impeachment in Springfield are now flailing in every direction," Durbin said. "Harry Reid did what anyone would have done as majority leader in the Senate. He called the governor to discuss filling the vacancy."

"The bottom line is this: this is not about race," Durbin said. "We have a proud record in the land of Lincoln of electing African American candidates to statewide office. There is no question about race. When we said at the beginning, Democratic senators said that we are not going to seat an appointment from Gov. Blagojevich it was before he had chosen anyone, black white or brown. So it has nothing to do with race."

--George Stephanopoulos

January 4, 2009 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (42) | TrackBack (0)