Obama plans second $700bn spending spree
Barack Obama plans more public spending to cope with recession
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Monday, 24, Nov 2008 09:33
The American economy may receive a second $700 billion injection over the next two years under Barack Obama's presidency, media reports suggest.
His White House administration is reportedly preparing Congress for a huge public spending programme, the Washington Post newspaper claims, in a bid to prop up the United States' ailing economy.
The move would amount to one of the biggest schemes in American history, matching the significance of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal of the 1930s.
It would follow the $700 billion bailout pushed through by George Bush this autumn, which aimed to provide liquidity for US banks struggling through the credit crunch.
There has been no official confirmation of the proposed levels of spending, but transition officials are hinting heavily towards a weighty stimulus programme.
"This is as big of an economic crisis as we've faced in 75 years," Obama spokesperson on economic issues Austan Goolsbee said on CBS' Face The Nation.
"We've got to do something that's up to the task of confronting that… I don't know what the exact number is, but it's going to be a big number."
Mr Obama will reveal his economic team later today in Chicago, with Lawrence Summers and Jon Corzine expected to be appointed to senior roles.