WASHINGTON — President Obama, seeking to broaden the appeal of his signature initiative, said Saturday that a proposed $825 billion package of spending programs and tax breaks was crucial not only to turn around the economy but also to rebuild the nation for a new era.In his first weekly video address as president, Mr. Obama made the case that the package would help students go to college, protect workers from losing health care, lower energy bills and modernize schools, roads and utilities.
“This is not just a short-term program to boost employment,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s one that will invest in our most important priorities like energy and education, health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century.”
The speech was part of a developing campaign by the White House to build momentum behind the plan and propel it to passage by mid-February. The White House released a report Saturday revealing details about the package, which would pay for a variety of projects, like laying 3,000 miles of transmission lines for a national electric grid, securing 90 major ports and guaranteeing health insurance for 8.5 million Americans in danger of losing coverage.
The administration plans to press the lobbying effort in coming days. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will appear Sunday on “Face the Nation” on CBS, and Mr. Obama’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, will appear on “Meet the Press” on NBC. Mr. Obama, who hosted Congressional leaders from both parties on Friday and met with his economic team on Saturday, will visit Capitol Hill in the coming week to talk with Republican lawmakers on their home turf.
But House Republicans are stiffening their resistance to the magnitude of spending in the plan developed by House Democrats on Mr. Obama’s behalf to create or save more than three million jobs. About two-thirds of the $825 billion is reserved for spending and the rest for tax breaks. In the Republican response to the president’s address, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House minority leader, called for deeper tax cuts instead.
Mr. Boehner, who will also be on “Meet the Press,” pushed a Republican plan to lower federal income tax rates in the two lowest brackets rather than provide a $500 per worker tax credit, as Mr. Obama wants to do. The Republican plan would also give tax breaks to small businesses, home buyers and the unemployed.
“Our plan is rooted in the philosophy that we cannot borrow and spend our way back to prosperity,” Mr. Boehner said. “Unfortunately, the trillion-dollar spending plan authored by Congressional Democrats is chock-full of government programs and projects, most of which won’t provide immediate relief to our ailing economy.”
Mr. Boehner cited numbers to counter Mr. Obama’s, saying the House Democratic plan included $600 million for the federal government to buy new cars, $650 million for digital television coupons and $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. “All told,” he said, “the plan would spend a whopping $275,000 in taxpayer dollars for every new job it aims to create.”
The White House report offered more detail about how Mr. Obama intended the money to be spent and was released to “put meat on the bones,” as one White House National Economic Council official put it. The targets are consistent with the House Democratic legislation, the official said.
According to the report, the Obama plan would double the generating capacity of renewable energy over three years, enough to power six million American homes. It would retrofit two million homes and 75 percent of all federal buildings to better protect against the weather, saving low-income homeowners an average of $350 a year in utility costs and the government $2 billion a year.
The White House also envisions using loan guarantees and other financial support to leverage $100 billion in private sector investment in so-called clean energy projects over three years. The plan would lay 3,000 miles of new or upgraded transmission wires for a new electric grid.
The plan would help 8.5 million Americans keep health care coverage by providing workers who lose insurance with tax credits to pay for continuing coverage under the federal law known as Cobra, and by expanding Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans who lack access to Cobra. The Medicaid formula would be adjusted to protect 20 million Americans whose coverage might be in jeopardy because of state budget shortfalls.
The plan would modernize 10,000 schools, improve security at 90 ports and build 1,300 wastewater projects. It would bolster Pell Grants to help seven million students and offer a new tax credit for four million college students. And it would increase food stamp benefits for 30 million Americans and increase Social Security benefits $450 for 7.5 million disabled and elderly people.
In his speech, Mr. Obama said he knew that some worried about the size of his plan. “I understand that skepticism,” he said, “which is why this recovery plan must and will include unprecedented measures that will allow the American people to hold my administration accountable for these results.
“We won’t just throw money at our problems; we’ll invest in what works.”
David M. Herszenhorn, Michael Falcone and Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting. - NYT
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