Obama to Meet Congress Leaders on Economic Plan

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President-elect Barack Obama is greeted by Air Force personnel after arriving at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

(AP)

Barack Obama is heading to Capitol Hill to push for quick action on a broad economic stimulus package that congressional leaders are saying won't be ready until mid-February at the earliest — almost a month later than the president-elect wanted.

Obama planned to meet Monday with House and Senate Democratic leaders and with a bipartisan group of key lawmakers. He had hoped to have Congress enact the recovery plan in time for him to sign his when he takes office Jan. 20. But even his spokesman, Robert Gibbs, conceded Sunday night that was "very, very unlikely."

"We don't anticipate that Congress will have passed, both houses, an economic recovery agreement by the time the inauguration takes place," Gibbs said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said Sunday he wants the House to approve the plan by the end of the month, sending it to the Senate in time for action before Congress leaves on its mid-February break.

Obama has insisted bold and quick action is necessary if the nation is to rebound from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. He has said repeatedly he wants a plan that will create 3 million new jobs.

"Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don't act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment and the American dream slipping further and further out of reach," he said in his Saturday radio and YouTube address.

Obama arrived Sunday night in Washington — a place he largely has shunned since winning election — just hours after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew from consideration as commerce secretary amid a grand jury investigation into how some of his political donors won a lucrative state contract.

The Richardson withdrawal marked the first major hiccup in a transition that saw Obama select his Cabinet in record time, largely because of the magnitude of the economic and national security challenges facing the new administration.