The new Congress convenes on January 6. The House and Senate, with larger Democratic majorities, will work to pass a bill for Obama to sign shortly after his inauguration, on January 20.

The Obama blueprint covers five main areas of spending and tax breaks: health, education, infrastructure, energy, and support for the poor and the unemployed.

Summers said the president-elect set short and long-term themes in choosing the plan's components: "Creating jobs for people who need them, and doing things that need to be done to lay the foundation for an economy that works for middle-class families."

At the meeting on Tuesday, Romer also laid out recommendations from private sector analysts and liberal to conservative economists for a government stimulus that ranged from $800 billion to $1.3 trillion over two years. Those consulted included Martin Feldstein, a conservative economist and longtime Republican presidential adviser, who is at the low end, and Lawrence B Lindsey, a Federal Reserve governor and Bush administration economist, who has recommended up to $1 trillion.