WASHINGTON (AFP) — House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday raised the prospect of a "lame duck" session of the old US Congress to pass a stimulus package to revive the crisis-hit US economy.
In her first public comments since fellow Democrat Barack Obama claimed the presidency in Tuesday's election and her party expanded its House and Senate majorities, Pelosi called on Republicans to cooperate on the economic package.
"We have a stimulus package on the table that I hope the Republicans in the Senate will allow to be taken up in a lame-duck session," Pelosi said in a Capitol Hill press conference.
Pelosi said negotiations were ongoing with the White House and she could not yet say whether Congress, including lawmakers who lost their seats, would be recalled before the new chambers are sworn in, in January.
The House passed a 61-billion-dollar second stimulus package last month but it did not make it through the Senate.
"If we cannot get the administration interested in doing more, the least we can do is the package that we have put forth," Pelosi said.
The House speaker said that a new stimulus package should include extensions in unemployment insurance, food assistance for impoverished Americans and health care assistance for seniors and children.
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