Obama Stimulus May Have $300 Billion In Tax Cuts; President-Elect To Meet With Lawmakers Monday

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - President-elect Barack Obama's first day in Washington after the holidays is a hectic one. He will be meeting with congressional leaders and his economic advisers on Monday to about a massive economic recovery package that reportedly will include $310 billion in tax cuts.

Obama is scheduled to hold a morning meeting on Capitol Hill with with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the transition office said. He then meets with other members of the Democratic and Republican congressional leadership, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), in the afternoon along with Vice President-elec Joe Biden.

The President-elect will meet with economic advisers after the meetings on Capitol Hill. Incoming Treasury Sec. Timothy Geithner, National Economic Council director-designate Lawrence Summers, Council of Economic Advisers director-designate Christina Romer and Peter Orszag, incoming director at the Office of Management and Budget are some of the participants in the transition meeting.

Obama has been negotiating with lawmakers about a $675 billion to $775 billion stimulus package, according to Politico, 40 percent of which, or $270 billion to $310 billion, will be devoted to tax cuts for businesses and the middle class.

The President-elect has repeatedly said that he wants the recovery plan, which will create 3 million jobs, ready for his signature when he is sworn into office.

Republicans last week called for closer scrutiny of the stimulus. McConnell issued a statement saying, "A trillion-dollar spending bill would be the largest spending bill in the history of our country at a time when our national debt is already the largest in history. As a result, it will require tough scrutiny and oversight. Taxpayers, already stretched to the limit, deserve nothing less."

Boehner (R-OH) also issued a statement saying, "I would ask the Democratic leadership to guarantee that such a bill will not be brought to the floor of the House unless there have been public hearings in the appropriate committees, the entire text has been available online for the American people to review for at least one week, and it includes no special -interest earmarks."

Obama, who spent the holidays in Hawaii before a two-day stop in his Chicago home, arrived in Washington, D.C. Sunday night. He and his family will stay at the historic Hay-Adams hotel near the White House until Jan. 15, five days before the is inaugurated as the nation's first African-American commander-in-chief.