White House warms to second stimulus

The White House said Monday that President Bush is “open” to a second economic stimulus package that congressional Democrats are pushing for, but he will need to see specifics before he can endorse the idea. 

{mosads}The White House has been reluctant to embrace the Democrats’ call for a second package, but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday morning that such a measure is “appropriate.”

Following Bernanke’s comments, White House press secretary Dana Perino said the White House is more focused on implementing the $700 billion financial rescue package, but the president does “have an open mind” about proposed stimulus legislation.

However, Perino repeated warnings that early White House assessments of what Democrats have discussed are not necessarily measures that would in fact stimulate the economy.

“We think that there’s ample opportunity when Congress gets back to talk about lots of those ideas,” Perino said. “What we’ve seen put forward so far by the leaders in Congress, the Democrats, were elements of a package that we did not think would actually stimulate the economy. So we would want to take a look at anything very carefully.”

Perino said the White House continues to have conversations with members about the ongoing financial crisis.