McCain won't vote for stimulus as it stands now

Unemployment could top 10 percent
The United States lost 2.6 million jobs last year, the most in any single year since World War II. Manufacturing is at a 28-year low and even Obama's economists say unemployment could top 10 percent before the recession ends. One in 10 homeowners is at risk of foreclosure and the dollar continues its slide in value. On Friday, 1st Centennial Bank of Redlands, California, became the third U.S. bank to fail this year.

The president and his top economic advisers met at the White House on Saturday to discuss economic issues. In addition to the stimulus package, the assembled experts used the two-hour session to discuss the upcoming federal budget, Obama's first chance to shape the country's spending.

A day earlier, Obama invited Democratic and Republican leaders to the White House to hear their ideas on the economy.

"We presented President Obama with our ideas to jump start the economy through fast-acting tax relief — not slow-moving government spending programs," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said in the weekly Republican address. "We let families, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and the self-employed keep more of what they earn to encourage investment and create millions of new private-sector jobs."

Boehner, who was also appearing on the talk shows, said the Republicans would cut taxes for every taxpayer, dropping even the lowest income tax rates. "That's up to an extra $3,200 per family every year — money that can be saved, spent or invested in any way you see fit," Boehner said. He also proposed a tax credit for home purchases, an end of taxation of unemployment benefits and tax incentives for small businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new employees.

"We cannot borrow and spend our way back to prosperity," Boehner said.

Obama enjoys wide support
Obama plans to travel to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with Republican leaders, his latest move to pass an economic package that has some Republican support.

Obama currently enjoys wide public support. The Gallup Organization on Saturday said 68 percent of Americans approve of Obama's performance in his first days in office. That's a number near the high end for new presidents, but short of President John F. Kennedy's 72 percent in 1961.

Gallup's poll found that 12 percent in the survey disapprove of Obama's job performance. That number is typical of all presidents.

The telephone interviews of 1,591 adults were conducted Wednesday to Friday. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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