Robert Gibbs

“ There has been some talk about making the White House a green example on your environmental energy front. Is there any thought to doing an energy audit, having some experimental energy-saving programs here at the White House to make this a natural laboratory for energy efficiency? ”

“ There was an agreement that we must act quickly to stimulate the economy, to create jobs, to put money back in people's pockets. And there was a commitment to ensuring that the funds that are appropriated to do that are spent quickly. The President was pleased to be part of the meeting with members of the House and Senate, both parties. He wants to hear ideas and hopes that Washington can put aside its partisan differences in order to get the American people what they deserve -- and that is a package that will get the economy going. ”

“ I think the one thing you can take from today is, the President underscored his willingness to listen to ideas from both parties, invited members of both parties in both the House and the Senate to come down and share those ideas; looks forward to going up to Capitol Hill Tuesday to do the very same thing, and continue making steady and sure progress on legislation that will -- we believe will get this economy moving again for the American people. ”

“ The principles that were outlined by Secretary-designate Geithner to the Finance Committee, and by Larry Summers to the House and the Senate last week before -- I think it was last week, they all run together -- the votes on the additional $350 billion that include a plan to address home foreclosures, to ensure that executive compensation is reined in, and again to ensure, as I've said a couple of times already here today, that the money that banks receive is lent to consumers, families and small businesses, to ensure that the economy works. ”

“ And things are likely to get worse before they get better.
Our hope is that this work can be done quickly, that the money can get into the economy quickly. That's why we're committed strongly to ensuring that that money is spent prudently, but done in a way that does it quickly enough to create jobs, and that all those tests can be met by this package. ”

“ Some tendency is to cover things that we disagree on. I think there's -- there should be also a tendency to cover what is agreed upon, which is that we're facing a great crisis, that we must act quickly, and that we do so in a prudent way that changes the way Washington has previously done business. ”

“ I think that obviously the auto industry is something that this government has been involved in at the end of the previous administration, and obviously those are issues that this administration will be involved in. ”

“ That's what the President set out to do, and that's what this bill does.
[REPORTER] : If I could follow up, since you mentioned Christine Romer, she has a very substantial body of written work as an economist, assessing what brought the United States out of recession and depression. ”

“ What concrete, hit-home factors will the average person see after 18 months of this 75 percent payout?
GIBBS: Well, we believe that more people will be back to work. We believe more people will have money in their pocket to spend. ”