Obama sells stimulus to reluctant Republicans

President Barack Obama Tuesday puts his vow to govern without partisan rancor on the line Tuesday, in exclusive talks with increasingly truculent Republican lawmakers over his massive stimulus plan.

Obama was set to trek through snowy Washington for an unusual visit to Capitol Hill to meet Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate who say the 825 billion plan needs more tax cuts and less bloated spending.

His visit, one week after his historic inauguration comes amid rising gloom in the US and global economy, after more than 70,000 jobs were slashed in a single day on both sides of the Atlantic on Monday.

"Every day, the economic picture is darkening, here and across the globe," Obama warned late Monday, as he attended the swearing in of his new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner after he was confirmed by the Senate.

The president is warning that any delay to the package, designed to create or save three to four million jobs, could be devastating and hopes the House will act Wednesday to allow the Senate endorse the bill before mid-February.

But hours ahead of the meeting, top Republicans called on the president to incorporate ideas into the House version of the plan.

"Help us make this plan better, so that it will put Americans back to work," House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner said.

Republican House number three Mike Pence appealed to Obama's bipartisan instincts.

"Today, House Republicans will take our case directly to President Obama, will urge him to make good on his pledge to set aside partisan differences and bring the best ideas of both parties to bear on this time of economic crisis."

Obama was first expected to meet House Republicans on Tuesday and an aide said he would likely make remarks to the press before heading to the Senate, where he served for four years as a senator from Illinois.

The president is hoping for thumping congressional majorities for the stimulus, the first big test of his presidency, to give him a spurt of momentum for other priorities and to make good on his vow to be a bipartisan leader.

Republicans and Democrats are squabbling over various analyses by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office over how quickly the funds will be dispersed under the stimulus plan.

Republicans are also highlighting millions of dollars under the plan to renovate Washington's National Mall, for contraceptives provided by states under various health plans and other so-called "pork barrel" projects.

Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday that the president was not going to Capitol Hill to negotiate but to hear the ideas of the opposition party on his plan, a mix of tax cuts and massive infrastructure programs.

"If there are good ideas -- and I think he assumes there will be.... We will look at those ideas; that those ideas will go through a process in Congress," Gibbs said.

Republicans, in the minority in the House and the Senate, are using the debate over the stimulus package as a first attempt to test the new president's authority to rebuild morale in their demoralized party.

Obama decided to travel the short distance to Capitol Hill after his meeting in the White House Friday with top Republican and Democratic leaders appeared to do little to bridge the gaps.

The House of Representatives was expected to vote Wednesday on the stimulus, with the Senate set to follow later with Obama pushing for a bill to be on his desk to sign before February 16.

Republicans lack the votes to defeat the stimulus bill on their own, but could slow its progress, especially in the Senate.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has expressed impatience with Republican objections, telling ABC Sunday: "Because the Republicans don't vote for it doesn't mean they didn't have an opportunity to (speak out)."

And House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer last week stressed that the package includes 275 billion dollars in tax cuts and warned Republicans: "This will probably be the largest tax cut they will get to vote for over the next 24 months. They ought to grab it."

The debate over the stimulus comes as the House is set to consider giving Obama the second tranche of a 700-billion-dollar "Troubled Asset Relief Program" (TARP), for the crippled finance industry.

There is a growing expectation that given the depth of the crisis in the banking industry, he may be forced to go back to Congress to ask for another massive cash injection.