In a January 5 article about President-elect Barack Obama's meetings with members of Congress to discuss a stimulus package, The Hill's Mike Soraghan asserted, “To the surprise of some, congressional liberals offered up little initial resistance to the sudden turn to tax cuts, which has been a conservative mantra since Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter.” But in referring to Obama's purported “sudden turn to tax cuts,” Soraghan did not note that Obama, as he reportedly pointed out in response to suggestions that he was trying to win over Republicans, promised tax cuts during the campaign. Additionally, Soraghan did not quote or name one person expressing “surprise” that “congressional liberals” would support tax cuts as part of a stimulus plan.

On January 6, The Washington Post reported, “After a lunchtime session with his economic advisers, Obama rejected suggestions that the tax cuts were designed to win over GOP votes.” The Post quoted Obama saying, “The notion that me wanting to include relief for working families in this plan is somehow a political ploy, when this was a centerpiece of my plan for the last two years doesn't make too much sense.” Indeed, during his campaign, Obama proposed, in part, to "[c]ut taxes for 95 percent of workers and their families with a tax cut of $500 for workers or $1,000 for working couples," as well as to “cut taxes overall, reducing revenues to below the levels that prevailed under Ronald Reagan.”

From Soraghan's January 5 Hill article:

But the overall size of the package remains a big question mark, and a potential disagreement between the two chambers. House aides say there's a general agreement around the amount of $775 billion.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), pressed for a figure on the overall size, said that Obama was talking about much larger numbers from his discussions with economists.

“He has indicated that there's at least 20 economists that he's talked with,” Reid said, “and all but one of those believe it should be from $800 billion to $1.2 trillion or $1.3 trillion.”

To the surprise of some, congressional liberals offered up little initial resistance to the sudden turn to tax cuts, which has been a conservative mantra since Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who comes from the liberal wing of her party, spent the day repeatedly praising the changes Obama was making.

“I commend President-elect Obama for agreeing to work in a bipartisan way,” Pelosi said.

One labor leader offered support for having 40 percent of the package go to tax cuts as long as the size of the overall package was large -- in the $675 billion to $775 billion range that has been discussed on Capitol Hill.

“It's not a problem if the package is big enough,” said Bill Samuel, legislative director for the AFL-CIO. He noted that some have called for a larger stimulus package, and suggested the AFL-CIO would not be opposed to something bigger.