Tuesday, December 23, 2008                                                              Archive  |   Client Login

In the past week, a number of meetings have taken place between the incoming administration and the Congress with the expressed objective to have a bill ready for President-Elect Obama to sign once inaugurated. The first session of the 111th Congress is January 6th, 2009 and they have promised to start moving towards passing the government stimulus legislation by January 20th, 2009.

The administration also announced two appointees this week whose focus is to create projects at the local level and drive the participation of small to medium sized businesses.

We have heard your questions regarding how federal dollars will move down to the state and local levels so we have recruited a couple of great government insiders who will discuss which projects will likely be funded and when, the agencies likely to benefit from the stimulus dollars, and what you should be doing now to prepare. I encourage you to register for our upcoming Webcast to hear from Tom Warne, Former Executive Director of the Utah Department of Transportation and James Dillon, Former CIO of the State of New York.

2009 Government Stimulus – The Inside Track from Government Insiders Webcast:
January 13, 2009 - Download the Recording

Finally, our team just returned from a series of meetings in Washington DC this past week and will be returning once Congress is in Session January 6th in order to provide you first hand insight to the government stimulus initiative. We will keep you posted on its progress.

It has been great to hear from you; please continue to send me your questions and I will answer them directly or address them in a future advisory mike@onvia.com.

Mike Pickett
Onvia President

Obama goal: Create 3 million jobs

Obama's advisers had been projecting that the multifaceted-economic plan would cost between $675 billion and $775 billion.

It would be the largest stimulus package in memory and would most likely grow as it went through Congress, although Obama has secured Democratic leaders' agreement to ban spending on pork-barrel projects.

The message from Obama was that "there was not going to be any spending money for the sake of spending money," said Lawrence Summers, who will be the senior economic adviser in the White House.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com who was an adviser to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, said, "My advice is, err on the side of too big a package rather than too little."

In an interview, Zandi also said he probably would soon raise his own recommendation of a $600 billion stimulus.

New York Times, Jackie Calmes, Published: December 20, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/us/21stimulus.html?_r=1

Obama boosts plans to speed US economic recovery

"What we're doing is putting together what we think will be the economic package that will do two things. One, stem the hemorrhaging of the loss of jobs, and begin to create new jobs," Biden told ABC's This Week.

"At the same time, we provide continuing liquidity for the financial markets."

"Every economist that I've spoken to ... from well-known economists on the right, conservative economists, to economists on the left, and everyone in between, says the scope of this package has to be bold; it has to be big.

"There's going to be real significant investment, whether it's 600 billion dollars or more or 700 billion dollars. The clear notion is, it's a number no one thought about a year ago," Biden said.

AFP, December 21, 2008

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iDMb6vzzBiDwPrqMEmMNOHwlqasg


On The Road Back To Washington

President-elect Obama Friday afternoon completed the selection of his economic team by nominating 18th District Representative Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation, as well as naming his picks for Labor Secretary, Small Business Administration, and U.S. Trade Representative.

LaHood, at the news conference in Chicago, thanked the president-elect for his confidence and said they shared the same philosophy on infrastructure and that "we have a task before us to rebuild America."

LaHood said a hallmark of his career as a congressman was working with local leaders and that he intended to continue that trend as transportation secretary. "It is the local folks who know best their needs," said LaHood.

Msnbc.com, WEEK-TV, updated 3:18 p.m. PT, December 21, 2008

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28315380

President-elect Barack Obama nominated VC Karen Gordon Mills to head Small Business Administration

“We must strengthen the small businesses that are the backbone” of the American economy, Obama said at a Chicago press conference. “With Karen Mills as administrator, America’s small businesses will have a partner in Washington” who will help them create jobs and understand the challenges they face.

“Small business will be an important focus of this administration as we work our way through these difficult economic times,” said Mills at the event, which included nominations for several other administration positions.

Greenwich Diva, Claudette Rothman, December 19, 2008