[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/01/28/obama.first.week/art.obama.gi.jpg caption="The economy has been the main focus of the first week of President Obama's presidency."]
Alec MacGillis
The Washington Post

In testimony before the House Budget Committee yesterday, Alice M. Rivlin, who was President Bill Clinton's budget director, suggested splitting the plan, implementing its immediate stimulus components now and taking more time to plan the longer-term transformative spending to make sure it is done right.

"Such a long-term investment program should not be put together hastily and lumped in with the anti-recession package. The elements of the investment program must be carefully planned and will not create many jobs right away," said Rivlin, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. The risk, she said, is that "money will be wasted because the investment elements were not carefully crafted."

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