Robert Gibbs

“ And the President simply said, you know, if there are things that we can do to speed money into the economy as it relates to infrastructure spending or things like that, he's more than happy to take a look at them in order to get this money infused into the economy and putting people back to work as quickly as possible. ”

“ We probably won't get a hundred percent of a proposal; we won't get a hundred percent support from either Republicans or Democrats. Again, that doesn't stop the President's effort to push forward -- and I think we -- you know, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that last night was a big step forward for the American people in getting that package one step closer to the President's desk and one step closer to making the lives of the American people a little bit better in what we all see as a very tough economic time. ”

“ We have a responsibility -- the President and Congress, Democrats and Republicans -- to do something for the American people. You know, probably each day that I've been here this week, we've had some statistic, at least in this town, to remind us of where we are. ”

“ Again, I think economic studies show -- and I will endeavor to get you one of these economic studies -- is that if you want to get people -- through a tax cut -- money that they're more likely to save -- or I'm sorry -- more likely to spend faster is to do so by spreading it out so that their consumer behavior is augmented by the fact that they understand that that money is coming every pay period ”

“ I think the American people understand that we have to deal with -- and the President also understands that we have to deal with each of these in order to move the economy forward. I'm not sure which part of the -- which leg housing is. But I think people that understand -- whether you're living in a neighborhood where the house next to you got foreclosed, or you're not now living in the neighborhood because the house you are in got foreclosed -- you may not understand which leg of the stool you're on, but you understand it's a problem that has to be dealt with. ”

“ I simply said that if you look at the economic principles of a lump-sum payment in the form of a $300 check, as been given before, or a $500 check for a worker in this plan, or a $1000 check for a family that has two workers, that economic studies show that lump-sum payments tend not to be spent out as quickly or as fully because people and consumers recognize that it's a one-time payment that they're not going to see during their next paycheck. ”

“ The House Republican Whip just sent out an email this afternoon, even while you were talking, accusing the White House of issuing political threats rather than engaging in bipartisan activity, and actually naming you as one of the people making threats. Can you engage in bipartisan activity if you're being accused of making political threats against the Republicans? ”

“ Doesn't he need to dramatically ratchet this up -- getting Democrats to compromise, working the Republicans, making changes in the bill?
GIBBS: Well, again, Chip, our test on this bill -- and our test on seeking these ideas -- is not whether they come from one party or whether they need to be compromised with another party. Instead it's how best do we put forward a package that meets the principle of putting money into people's pockets, spending money to help lay some long-term investments for economic growth and put people back to work right now. ”

“ He believes that the time he put in and the time he will continue to put in to listen, to consult and to work with both Democrats and Republicans is important because we owe it to the American people to get them a piece of legislation that puts money back in their pockets, creates jobs and gets this economy moving again. ”

“ Again, I think the President has been very clear on the notion that what has to be done will not be able to be done unless the American people have confidence not just in the decisions that government is now forced to make to address these crises, but more importantly, that they don't see some of these actors behaving differently. ”

“ Waiving requirements for environmental and judicial reviews, and allowing contracts and grants to be awarded outside the normal competitive bid process. Now, since those kinds of things or regulatory or speed bump things Democrats often supported, I'm wondering is the administration open to reviewing those kinds of things if in fact they impede spending of money that you believe would be essential to helping the economy recovery. ”

“ Well, again, the financial team continues, the economic team continues to meet on this subject -- Chuck asked this yesterday -- to meet on -- and the President talked about this with leaders of Congress, he's talked about this with us -- and understanding that a recovery and reinvestment plan is just one part of what has to happen in going forward to get the economy moving again -- financial stability being a big chunk of that, in addition to financial reregulation, which he talked about yesterday with Paul Volcker. ”

“ Many of you heard the President often quote the ability to disagree without being disagreeable, and I think that's the tone that he'd like to see dominate these debates and dominate the issues that we discuss each day in Washington. ”

“ Has he -- does he have any interest in bringing some of these folks into the White House and sitting down --
GIBBS: I don't know the precise answer to whether he's interested in bringing some of those people down per se to talk. Obviously he's -- he reads the fine Washington Post and listens to their arguments. Again, you know, I think if you look at other -- others -- some that helped Senator McCain that have weighed in on what they think is a quality stimulus package. But again, he is always open to listening to ideas from across the political spectrum and different political parties. ”

“ Well, no, you're assessing the bill and the vote and the way --
GIBBS: It's hard for me to speak to the mindset of -- either collectively or individually -- members of Congress. The President and his team formulated a proposal that they thought, and a framework and principles, that they thought would put money back in people's pockets and spend money to create jobs. That's what we endeavor to do, and what the process endeavors to do as it moves forward.
[REPORTER] : Can I follow on that, though?
[REPORTER] : Robert, you're the one that said, "changing the ways of Washington." ”

“ We saw earlier in the week businesses that are shedding I think 100,000 jobs in two or three days' time. Tomorrow isn't going to be that day where we don't talk about these statistics, because we're likely to get a number for economic growth for the fourth quarter that's fairly staggering. And today we find out that more Americans are receiving unemployment benefits since records began being kept on that statistic in 1967. ”

“ I think the President -- the President said to House Republicans and Senate Republicans that obviously the bill -- the bill that will work its way through both sides of the aisle is probably not exactly what any one person would write, regardless of their party. ”

“ Will there be specific measures that will be brought forth by the administration --
GIBBS: Well, one of the things that the President is doing today is he met -- had his economic daily briefing that included Dr. Summers, Christina Romer, Secretary Geithner. They are working on -- that is a portion of what they're working on as it relates to going forward on the financial stability money that Congress has appropriated. ”

“ You mentioned that the President was going to be talking about executive bonuses. There is a report that came out of the New York Comptroller's Office a short time ago saying that the corporate CEOs, many of them of companies that have received taxpayer dollars, were paid massive bonuses, totaling more than $18 billion. ”

“ Because the two gentlemen who introduced him yesterday, their combined five-year compensation package was $150 million. Did he turn to them and say, you guys are cutting jobs and yet you're making $150 million?
GIBBS: The President talked about responsibility with them yesterday. The President doesn't meet with CEOs where he doesn't talk about responsibility. ”

“ They'll understand that if I get it today, because I got paid, that I'll get it in two weeks because I get paid, and I can change my spending habits by that amount of money through the course of the tax cut.
I do think there are some just general disagreements -- as you mentioned, disagreements even among conservative economists. There's disagreements about what we believe creates jobs and what Mr. ”