Obama Talking Stimulus Package

Here is an item on Obama's stimulus package from Briefing.com:

WSJ reports President-elect Barack Obama's economic team is crafting an economic stimulus package to send to Congress worth between $675 billion and $775 billion over two years, according to economic officials familiar with the package. The transition team has conveyed the figures to Capitol Hill - and expects the final price tag to grow as it works its way through the House and Senate.

An Obama adviser familiar with the planning said the plan could top out at around $850 billion. Democratic leadership aides said it could easily exceed that before the package gets back to Obama's desk in final form. "The biggest fear is that people will do too little," said one Democratic leadership aide, "like a startup that fails because it didn't do enough."

Obama aides hope to keep the package below the trillion-dollar mark, a psychological threshold that could carry political consequences, as they fear being accused of adding too much to the country's long-term budget deficit.

Obama advisers and Democratic aides in Congress are accelerating their work on the massive economic recovery package this week, ahead of Obama's two-week holiday in Hawaii and the break between the disbanding of the 110th Congress and the forming of the 111th. Both sides in the talks want a package ready when Congress returns Jan. 6, so legislation can reach the House and Senate floors before Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration.