Obama to meet with Pelosi, Reid on stimulus

The case for a new stimulus plan

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The heart of the recession

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama will meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Monday to discuss his proposal for the new economic stimulus plan, which leaders are now referring to as an "economy recovery plan," a Senate Democratic leadership aide said Friday.

Obama, Pelosi and Reid are then hoping to meet with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner, the aide told CNN.

The president-elect's staff contacted McConnell's office about meeting on Monday, but the time and location has not been buttoned down, said a Senate Republican leadership aide.

"It's likely to happen but the details still need to be worked out," said the aide. Asked if Republicans are satisfied with what appears to be an effort by Obama to include them in discussions about the new economic stimulus package the GOP aide said, "It depends on what the meeting is - if it's just a photo op or if they're really reaching out."

The aides declined to be named because the meetings had not been publicly announced. Obama aides would not confirm any Monday meetings.

As House Democratic aides said Pelosi would like to move a stimulus bill through the House by the second week in January, McConnell and Boehner both expressed concerns this week about the size of the economic rescue effort and if oversight of the plan will suffer because of Democrats' ambitious timeline.

"We agree with President-elect Obama that taking action to turn the economy around is job one," McConnell said in a statement Friday. "We also agree, though, that every dollar needs to be spent wisely and not wasted in the rush to get it spent.

"And we believe that his admonition to 'go through the federal budget-page by page, line by line-eliminating those programs we don't need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way' should apply to this, potentially the largest spending bill ever considered by the Congress. And we hope that Democrats in Congress don't attempt to shut the American taxpayer out of this process by trying to pass a bill that hasn't been the subject of bipartisan review and that hasn't been available for public inspection."