ST. PAUL -- The initial phases of president-elect Obama's economic plan met a mixed Minnesota reaction.
The state's two U.S. senators did not agree.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said that Obama "is putting together the best and brightest" economic experts to lead the country out of its current rut.
But Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., fears Obama's economic proposal "simply increases spending."
"We cannot spend our way to economic recovery," Coleman said. "We should not just throw money at the economy and run the debt even higher. Rather we must, in a fiscally responsible manner, look to policies that actually spur economic growth and create jobs."
ADVERTISEMENT
Klobuchar looked at the people Obama is naming to his administration and indicated she had confidence in them.
"He has put together not just an A economic team, but an A-plus economic team," Klobuchar said "He is putting together a centrist Cabinet, which is important to reaching out to the other side and moving this country forward."
Many of the people he has named, such as treasury secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, are not exactly household names. But, Klobuchar said, those inside economics know and respect them.
"It reminds me more that he is running a business, and I say that in a good way," Klobuchar said about the president-elect.
Those in the Upper Midwest will do well under the Obama plan, she added, because it focuses on energy production that is expanding in this region. At a Monday news conference, Obama said that he wants to create 2.5 million jobs by the end of 2010, partially by investing in "the green economy."
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., agreed that the Obama team is good.
"He has assembled some of the best economic and financial minds in our nation," said Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
