Obama and Pelosi meet about stimulus package

President-elect Barack Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held a private meeting earlier today to discuss the economic stimulus package that will be the focus of the 111th Congress that begins tomorrow. They did not take questions, but issued the following statements, courtesy of the pool report:  

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: The reason we are here today is because the people can't wait. We have an extraordinary economic challenge ahead of us. We are expecting a sobering job report at the end of the week. The speaker and her staff have been extraordinarily helpful in working with our team so we can shape an economic investment and recovery plan that will start to put people back to work. And I can't think of a better partner in building what is necessary to get this economy back on track than Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has just been an extraordinary advocate for working people all her life.

PELOSI: Thank you very much Mr. President Elect. It is a great honor and personal privilege to welcome you to the Speaker's office. Tomorrow we will start a new congress. We will hit the ground running on initiatives, some of which you have described and address some of the pain being felt by the American people. And then 2 weeks from tomorrow we will inaugurate a new President of the United States. As the President-elect indicated the construction is underway right now. At that time we hope to have signed into law legislation that will improve the lives of the American people. It's a very very exciting time. We pledge to work together in a bipartisan way. Great civility, great fiscal discipline. I know that if they (inaudible) I congratulate the President Elect on his sense on the appointment to his cabinet the transition and for this inauguration.

While there was once talk of having a bill ready for Obama's signature on January 20th, expectations have been dialed back as Democrats look for support on the stimulus package from Republican lawmakers.

Searching for Republican votes, Obama's aides indicated Sunday that the still emerging plan would include at least $300 billion in tax cuts, including a $500 individual tax credit and a host of business credits. That's an increase of about $100 billion in tax cuts from the estimates aides provided during pre-Christmas negotiations among Obama's advisers and House and Senate Democrats.

Obama will meet later today with key Republican leaders for the first time since his election.