Obama in the White House

February 5, 2009, 11:11 pm
Obama Rallies Democrats on Stimulus Package
By Kate Phillips

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — President Obama urged House Democrats tonight to set aside their differences with the Senate and Republicans in order to push forward quickly with the stimulus package. At times, he sounded irritated with critics who contended the bill was too big or its purpose wrong-headed.

And while he was indeed before a friendly audience, or, as the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, phrased it, “among family,” Mr. Obama sought to chide his former congressional colleagues just a little bit:

“These aren’t just statistics. This is not a game, this is not a contest for who’s in power, who’s up and who’s down. These are your constituents. These are families you know and you care about. I believe it is important for us to set aside some of the gamesmanship in this town and get something done.”

House Democrats have been taking a bit of a beating this week, as various factions of senators sought to overhaul the nearly $900 billion package the House had passed last week without one Republican vote. As if he had heard the rumblings of representatives’ stomachs, Mr. Obama gave several shoutouts to David Obey, chairman of the House appropriations committee, who had been praised just last week by Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a major craftsman of the House bill.

Since then, the Senate has been gnawing away at Mr. Obey’s work in the House version, with revisions and cuts coming from Democrats as well as Republicans.

The president implored the audience to continue working through the expected conference committee to resolve differences in the legislation, and not to become too attached to one particular priority.

But just as he tried to rally them toward a unified front, and urged everyone to continue to try to work toward bipartisanship, he also repeated something he’s been saying lately. When he hears complaints (”cable chatter”) — as to “why are we spending $800 billion when we’ve got this deficit?”

“First of all I found this deficit when I showed up. I found this national debt doubled wrapped in a big bow waiting for me when I stepped into the Oval Office,” he said tonight.

Continuing in a mocking tone of critics who complain ” “this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill,’ What do you think a stimulus is? That’s the whole point. No, seriously, that’s the point. Now I got carried away,” he joked. But, “Here’s the point I’m making. This package is not going to be absolutely perfect, and you can nit and you can pick. That’s the game we all play here. What I’m saying is we can’t afford to play that game.”

After his rallying speech, Mr. Obama took questions from House members, but that was closed to the press.

This has been the start of an intensive effort by the White House to get the stimulus package back on track and passed; lawmakers here say they are looking forward to the president getting out of Washington and selling the stimulus around the country.

The Democratic whip, James Clyburn, said later at a briefing that he sensed Mr. Obama was stepping up his promotion of the plan — and criticisms of past Republican policies — because of misperceptions. Mr. Hoyer chimed in, “Nobody likes to see their program misrepresented.”

While efforts have been under way in the Senate to whittle the plan back to $800 billion or less, Mr. Hoyer said he believed it should be higher, at like $880 billion. Earlier on Air Force One, Mr. Obama was asked by pool reporters traveling with him about the size of the proposal:

“I think it is important to make sure that the recovery package is of sufficient size to do what’s needed to create jobs. We lost half a million jobs each month for two consecutive months and things could continue to decline, we’ll know the number tomorrow. Every economist, even those who may quibble with the details in the makeup in a package, will agree that if you’ve got a trillion dollars in lost demand this year and a trillion dollars in lost demand next year, then you’ve got to have a big enough recovery package to actually make up for all those lost jobs and lost demand.

And, you know, our original figure was roughly in the 800 range - there have been some changes to our framework both in the House and in the Senate - but that’s I think the scale that we need to deliver for the American people.”

Asked if the figure shoud be $800 billion and not more, Mr. Obama said: “Well, I gave you a range. I think we’re in range.”

Earlier this afternoon here, Representative John Larson of Connecticut, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, acknowledged that House members have concerns about the way the stimulus package has proceeded. Conceding that the House passed its version, “I dare say at the speed of light,” Mr. Larson said many members have institutional concerns about the ways in which legislation has been pushed through. The need for legislation to move forward through committees is understood, he added.

As for whether House members were upset by the significant changes that are being made to the stimulus package in the Senate, Mr. Larson said, “Of course there’s great angst and there’s great concern among members.” But he and Representative Xavier Becerra shrugged off the loss of programs and other spending being shaved by the Senate. At various times, they called it “a work in progress.”

At the earlier briefing with Congressmen Larson and Becerra, they were asked whether such a retreat — at taxpayers’ cost — was the wrong message to send at a time like this. Mr. Larson joked that they had only traveled to “balmy Williamsburg. Have you been outside lately?” (It was indeed quite chilly on Thursday, about 150 or so miles from Capitol Hill.

And as for President Obama’s visit tonight? He grinned at House Democrats for offering him a first: “Thank you for for giving me a reason to use Air Force One. It’s pretty nice.”