The Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved an 819-billion-dollar economic stimulus bill, which melds new spending and tax cuts to jump-start the economy.

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) delivers remarks on the economy after an economic meeting with company CEOs in the East Room of the White House in Washington, the United States, Jan. 28, 2009. (Xinhua/Zhang Yan)

That total rose by 3 billion dollars when the House approved ona voice vote a Democratic amendment for mass transit.

President Barack Obama hopes the expansive stimulus plan will create or save 3 million to 4 million jobs and help revive the economy, which has been in a recession since December 2007.

The new president’s goal is to pump most of the 819 billion dollars into the economy quickly, observers said.

Last week, Obama’s budget director, Peter Orszag, told lawmakers the administration’s goal was to inject at least 75 percent of the money from the stimulus plan into the economy by Sept. 30, 2010.

The approval by the House came after days of intense lobbying by Obama, including personal appeals to congressional Republicans.

As the House began debate on the measure on Tuesday, Obama visited the Capitol Hill to persuade skeptical House and Senate Republicans, who wanted more than the 275 billion dollars in tax cuts and incentives in the plan while reducing the amount in government spending, to support the plan.

Republicans argued that too much of the House measure is wasteful spending.

Another concern from them is the plan’s impact on the federal budget deficit, which hit a record 455 billion dollars in the 2008fiscal year and is expected to soar to 1.2 trillion dollars without the stimulus in the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30,2009.

The CBO estimated that the House measure would add 169.5 billion dollars in fiscal 2009 and 356 billion dollars in fiscal 2010 to the federal deficit.

Both Democrats and Republicans, however, have realized that the dismal economic outlook demands they approve a huge influx of money.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet