A White House budget official has told the US Congress that President Barack Obama's administration is not discussing a second economic stimulus plan.
'No-one in the administration is talking about a second stimulus at this point,' said Robert Nabors, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Mr Nabors is tracking the effects of the economic recovery plan already in effect. He testified at a House of Representatives hearing on oversight of the $787 billion stimulus plan.
'What we are focused on right now is implementing the recovery act that Congress has already passed,' he added.
Mr Nabors was asked about comments made by Laura D'Andrea Tyson, an economist who advised Obama during the 2008 campaign and is a member of his economic advisory panel, who said on Tuesday that the US should be planning for a possible second round of budgetary stimulus focused on infrastructure investment. 'She's an outside economic advisor. She does not work for the administration,' Mr Nabors said.
When he signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law in February, President Obama said it was key to creating and saving jobs during the longest US recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But with the unemployment rate now standing at 9.5%, its highest in more than two decades, some are wondering if the various tax and spending measures can accomplish that mission.
