Obama to unveil economic team tomorrow

US President-elect Barack Obama will announce the members of his economic team at a news conference in Chicago tomorrow.

US President-elect Barack Obama will announce the members of his economic team at a news conference in Chicago tomorrow.

Mr Obama plans to name Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as his Treasury secretary, and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers as the director of the White House National Economic Council, a transition aide said.

A main part of Mr Geithner's portfolio will be managing the $700 billion bailout for the troubled financial industry.

Mr Geithner (47) was a point person on the international economy at Treasury during the Clinton administration, where he worked closely with Summers.

The 53-year-old Mr Summers, who gained Mr Obama's trust by helping guide his response to the financial meltdown during the campaign, will play a broad role in shaping policy and co-ordinating among other economic advisers.

The two will lead the Mr Obama's administration's efforts to rescue the slumping economy and stem the worst financial crisis in more than 70 years.

Mr Obama yesterday announced he is crafting a very large stimulus package to include middle-class tax cuts and spending on public works programs, such as the building of roads, bridges and mass transit projects.

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said today that Congress could put together an economic stimulus package of several hundred billion dollars that should also contain tax cuts.

In a interview on CBS network, Ms Pelosi, a California Democrat, said the package should be aimed at creating jobs immediately and include investments for future growth. Pelosi said several economists have called for a package in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

When asked if that would be the case for the stimulus package lawmakers are contemplating, Ms Pelosi said: "It could be, if it also contained a tax cut. Something of several hundred billion would have to be some investment into the future, plus creating jobs immediately, and a tax cut."

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Peter Orszag, a former Clinton administration economic aide, is expected to be chosen by Mr Obama as the White House budget director. Mr Orszag has been director of the Congressional Budget Office since January 2007.

University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee, a longtime adviser to Obama, has been discussed as a leading contender for the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Jason Furman, Mr Obama's top economic policy coordinator during the presidential campaign, is likely to get a senior role, probably as the number two official at the National Economic Council.

US media have widely reported that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson would be nominated as commerce secretary.