BackObama set to unveil details on giant stimulus spending plan
Obama set to unveil details on giant stimulus spending plan
By AFP
Washington: President-elect Barack Obama was to get down to brass tacks and unveil specifics of his stimulus spending plan Thursday in what aides billed a key speech.
Obama “will deliver a major speech on the economy at George Mason University," said Jen Psaki, a transition team spokeswoman.
“He will make the case for urgent action on an American recovery and reinvestment plan that will save or create over three million jobs while investing in priorities like health care, energy, and education that will jumpstart economic growth."
The president elect was scheduled to make the address around 11:00 am (1600 GMT) at the university, in Washington’s northern Virginia suburbs, and later hold a press conference at Democratic National Committee headquarters.
“Wall Street has not worked, our regulatory system has not worked the way it’s supposed to," Obama said in an interview with CNBC a day ahead of the speech, vowing a “substantial overhaul" of US financial markets.
“So it’s going to be a substantial overhaul. We’re going to have better enforcement, better oversight, better disclosure, increased transparency."
Obama vowed to streamline the “alphabet soup of agencies" and boost inter-agency cooperation. He also warned that his stimulus plan could expand.
“We’ve seen ranges from 800 (billion) to 1.3 trillion and our attitude was that given the legislative process, if we start towards the low end of that, we’ll see how it develops."
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