Obama’s record-setting stimulus plan is getting such astonishingly quick treatment from House Democrats that officials say it could go from draft to final passage in one week. | POLITICO Staff House plans to fast-track Obama plan

President-elect Barack Obama’s record-setting stimulus plan — the biggest special spending bill in history — is getting such astonishingly quick treatment from House Democrats that officials say it could go from draft to final passage in one week.

The bill has no text or details yet, but it does have a name: Obama revealed Saturday in his YouTube/radio address that it will be called the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.”


When asked about the title, Frank Luntz, a Republican consultant who wrote a treatise on political linguistics called “Words That Work,” told Politico: “Obama's team are the best linguists I've ever seen. Republicans aren't in his league right now."

“Recovery says putting the country back on track, and reinvestment is the next step up from investment,” Luntz explained.

The 111th Congress begins Tuesday with the swearing-in of new members. The stimulus plan — with a price tag of up to $850 billion — is likely to be ready for a vote the following week, officials said.

No draft or outline or outline was circulating this weekend, but House Democratic officials said they hope to have one by early next week.

“We are hoping for a House vote on Week 2 (week of Jan. 12),” a House official said. “It could slip if we decide to hold regular approps hearings. But I think a vote is likely the week of Jan. 12.”

Republicans are suggesting that’s too hasty. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a statement Friday headlined, “Protect the Taxpayer Against the Rush to Spend Their Money.”

“Every dollar needs to be spent wisely and not wasted in the rush to get it spent,” McConnell said.

And House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement that he was concerned the legislation would get “little debate or public scrutiny.”

“Congress should have public hearings in the appropriate committees,” Boehner said.

House Ways and Means Committee staff members worked through the holidays to prepare a framework and options. And the president-elect will travel to Capitol Hill on Monday to tell leaders what he wants included in the bill.

Obama aides want a starting point of $675 billion to $775 billion over two years, but say they recognize it could grow to $850 billion as legislators add goodies.

Obama aides want to keep it under $1 trillion, although some lawmakers think the final bill could be nearing that psychological barrier.

Obama aides have said they want to get 80 votes in the Senate to demonstrate bipartisan support and so that Democrats alone cannot be blamed for the breathtaking spending.

In Obama’s address on Saturday, he said the No. 1 goal of his plan “is to create 3 million new jobs, more than 80 percent of them in the private sector."

Theoretically, that could mean 600,000 new government jobs. But aides say that probably a lot more than 80 percent of the new jobs would be in private industry. And a lot of the government jobs would be state and local workers whom the plan saves from layoffs.

In the past, Obama has said his goal was to “save or create” 3 million jobs over two years. Aides say today’s formulation is no change in policy. They just assume everyone understands by now.