Robert Gibbs

“ But again, I think in large measure we know there will be some component for state aid, there will be tax cuts for middle class families to put money back in people's pockets, there will be investment in the agenda items for long-term economic growth, there will be valuable infrastructure spending. Some component of all of that is going to largely be in a final package because that's what economists agree will get the economy moving. ”

“ And I think Washington needs to understand what happens in Florida, and Indiana, and Michigan, and Ohio, and Pennsylvania -- states that have seen huge in unemployment; 598,000 jobs -- 20,000 -- Americans lost 20,000 jobs a day last month. ”

“ You have everything you want -- technically, you've got a bill through the House, you're going to get a bill through the Senate. Why aren't you taking a victory lap?
GIBBS: I think we've made tremendous progress. I think what you've seen and hopefully what you'll see the Senate do by sometime tomorrow is get a pretty enormous recovery plan that's needed in America through both Houses of Congress. But there aren't any victory laps until we start putting Americans back to work. ”

“ I feel confident that by -- certainly through Tuesday and then hopefully by the end of the week, we can get a plan that folks agree on and get it to his desk. I think you'll see the President continue to exert the type of leadership that the American people are looking for; that you'll see the President highlight for all of Washington the problems that Americans are facing, particularly in Elkhart and next in Fort Myers, and then Thursday in Peoria where, you know, Caterpillar announced layoffs based on a faltering economy. ”

“ I think those are all individual decisions. I think the President believes, I think most economists agree, that you're going to lose a trillion dollars a year in economic output, and the best vehicle to make up for some of that downturn is to stimulate the economy through a recovery plan like the one the President, his team, and members of Congress have framed.
[REPORTER] : When you say that the plans are closer than we thought, you're not expecting trouble in the conference? ”

“ We lost on cable television virtually every day last year. So, you know, there's a conventional wisdom to what's going on in America via Washington, and there's the reality of what's happening in America. ”

“ Now you've seen a huge deterioration in the economy, and the people of Elkhart aren't worried about what the final score is; they're worried about, when are they going to get some help, and when is Congress going to work together to get them some help? ”

“ Axelrod pointed out that the President's approval ratings, when you talk about the stimulus, are higher than Congress. Why isn't the President taking more of a leadership role. You just said, the makeup of the bill should be up to the House and the Senate. ”

“ You're saying you can live with either bill or some meld of the two; you're not going to go in and try to change in some way or another that you would like to fix it to make it better?
GIBBS: I'll check particularly on sort of what the legislative strategy is. You know, I think we're focused on getting something to the President's desk as quickly as we can.
[REPORTER] : Are you concerned about what was cut out of the bill on Friday night in the Senate? I mean, those would be new jobs for school construction and state aid. ”