CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama will meet next week with his economic team to discuss the economic stimulus package they are developing, a transition aide for the incoming administration confirmed to CNN on Saturday.
The aide said the team also met with Obama in Chicago on Thursday, the same day the president-elect picked former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle for two important roles — secretary of Health and Human Services and director of the White House Office of Health Reform.
The Obama team isn't putting a price tag on its economic stimulus plan, which Democratic leaders want to have ready for the new president to sign either on or very soon after Inauguration Day.
Currently, the initial package is expected to cost somewhere between $500 billion and $700 billion over two years.
On the likely agenda: Funds for infrastructure projects, middle class tax cuts, aid to state and local governments, and money for safety net programs such as food stamps and Medicaid.
Obama has described the package as "the largest infrastructure program … since the building of the Federal Highway System in the 1950s."
Infrastructure is likely to be the most controversial measure. Many critics say such funding isn't the best way to jumpstart economic activity in the near-term because many infrastructure projects take too long to get under way.
A recovery package also might include an extension of the increase on the maximum loan amounts that qualify mortgages for backing from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration, a measure that House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Massachussetts, is advocating. On January 1, the limit will drop to $625,500 from $729,750 in the highest-cost housing markets.
–CNN's Jessica Yellin contributed to this report
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