WSJ: Lawrence Summers to Head National Economic Council

President-elect Barack Obama will name former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers the director of his National Economic Council, placing the Harvard University economist he passed over for Treasury secretary inside the White House as his closest economic adviser, Democratic officials said Saturday night.

View Full Image

Getty Images
Obama with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers in July.
The move came as the president-elect prepares Monday to introduce his new Treasury secretary nominee, Timothy Geithner, and the rest of his economic team at an event in Chicago Monday.

Among those on stage will be Mr. Summers, who was central to his campaign's economic team and is now leading efforts to draft a massive economic stimulus plan the president-elect hopes to sign into law as one of his first acts as the nation's leader.

Mr. Obama has instructed his economic advisers to draft a stimulus that could dwarf the $175 billion version he campaigned on, stretching it over two years and pushing to create 2.5 million new jobs with it.


Lawrence Summers
The plan, with its extended time horizon, could also push back planned tax increases on families earning over $250,000 from a planned 2010 start date to 2011, when they are set to expire in current law, economists familiar with the effort say.

"I have already directed my economic team to come up with an Economic Recovery Plan that will mean 2.5 million more jobs by January of 2011 -- a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face that I intend to sign soon after taking office," Mr. Obama said in his Saturday radio address.

The plan he campaigned on was supposed to be large enough to create one million new jobs, though aides cautioned a final price tag could not be determined simply by more than doubling the initial $175 billion figure. Experts have called for economic infusions anywhere from $300 billion to $500 billion, a range that Obama aides are working within.