美国总统奥巴马表示,希望刚刚在众议院通过的大规模经济刺激计划在他签字生效之前能够得到进一步完善。国会众议院星期三通过了这项8千190亿美元的经济复苏计划,这是奥巴马的一个重大胜利。

奥巴马本来一直希望这项计划得到广泛的跨党派支持,但没有任何共和党人投赞成票。共和党人表示,议案中包含了过多的浪费性的支出,而减税不够 。

参议院正在草拟自己版本,其中包括额外的700亿美元的减税。参议院下星期将就这个方案展开辩论。国会参众两院必须要在各自的版本之间达成妥协,才能将最后的版本递交总统签字,成为法律。

奥巴马把陷于困境的美国经济作为政府的中心议题。奥巴马今天晚些时候将会见财政部长盖特纳。

U.S. President Barack Obama says he hopes a massive economic stimulus plan passed by the House of Representatives can be improved before he signs the legislation into law. In an important victory for the president, the House approved the 819-billion-dollar economic recovery plan Wednesday.

Mr. Obama had been hoping to win broad bipartisan support for the plan, but not a single Republican voted in favor for it. Republicans said the package contained too much wasteful spending and not enough tax cuts.

The Senate is crafting its own version — which includes an additional 70 billion dollars in tax cuts — and will debate the measure next week. The two versions will have to be reconciled before President Obama can sign the legislation into law.

Mr. Obama has made the ailing U.S. economy a central focus of his administration. The president meets later today (Thursday, eds: 2000 UTC) with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.