Pelosi vows quick action on stimulus bill

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- An economic stimulus package will be on the president's desk before the Presidents' Day recess or there will be no recess, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

"(We) have an opportunity to move quickly -- not hastily, but quickly -- to get this done," Pelosi said during a Thursday news conference. "So next -- in the next couple of weeks, we'll have mark-ups in the appropriate committees to prepare us to come to the floor after the inauguration with our legislation."

The California Democrat said she hoped the Senate would act concurrently and differences in the proposals could be resolved quickly on a conference committee so a bill could be ready for the president's signature by the mid-February break.

"If we don't have a bill before the (Presidents' Day) recess, there will be no president's recess," Pelosi said. "We are not going home without an economic recovery package."

Democrats hold an 80-vote majority in the House, she noted, and there will be a Democrat in the White House once President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in Jan. 20.

"His economic recovery package almost sight unseen is supported by 79 percent of the American people," Pelosi added.

She said she wasn't overly worried about different viewpoints and setting priorities because "the role of government is to choose."

"And we will work with the administration to choose," Pelosi said. "We will work, hopefully, as much as possible in a bipartisan way."

The deadline for getting a bill ready for signature is ambitious but "long overdue," she said.

"And as I say," Pelosi added, "we can't go home without an economic recovery package, and we won't."