By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The incoming Obama administration is nearing agreement with congressional Democrats on a huge emergency spending bill intended to jolt the weak U.S. economy and create 3 million jobs over two years, Vice President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday.
Asked whether an agreement on the shape of a massive economic stimulus bill would be reached by Christmas, Biden said, "I think we're getting awful close to that."
But he refused to divulge how much the measure would cost taxpayers. In recent days, some government sources have talked about moving a bill through Congress next month with a price tag in the range of $675 billion to $775 billion.
Others have speculated on a possibly even larger overall expenditure to pay for road and bridge rebuilding, investments in mass transit systems, middle-class tax cuts and expanded aid for states and the poor.
Reacting to the worsening economy, which the government on Tuesday said shrank by an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the third quarter, Biden noted that the incoming administration has had to raise its job-creation goals to 3 million, from earlier projections of 2.5 million, over the next two years.
Biden added, "We don't think it's going to require any significantly larger increase in investment to do that."
In upbeat comments about the outlook for the economic stimulus legislation Congress will consider when it convenes on Jan. 6, Biden said, "It's clear that we're all on the same page, including our Republican colleagues" on the need for a "substantial" bill to create jobs.
He added, "We're all getting very close to an overall number and we're getting close to the specific kinds of investment."
Barack Obama will take office as president on Jan. 20 with the U.S. economy in a year-long recession that has brought a rising jobless rate and with economists predicting conditions will get worse for at least the next several months.
Obama, a Democrat, has vowed to place top priority on trying to right the economy and his fellow Democrats in Congress are hoping to put a stimulus bill on his desk by Jan. 20 or shortly thereafter.
Obama's chief White House economic advisor, Lawrence Summers, told reporters that without action, "We will almost certainly face the worst economic downturn since the second World War."
Biden and Summers made their remarks to reporters before a meeting of top advisors on the economy, health care and energy.
While there appears to be widespread backing for a large stimulus bill, Obama and congressional leaders also say they want to demonstrate that they are serious about tackling the government's huge budget deficits that will only get worse with the additional emergency spending being contemplated.
Congressional aides say the stimulus bill is likely to have provisions making it tougher for the government to deficit-spend in the future. Moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives also are pushing for language that would nudge Congress and Obama toward taking on reforming the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid retirement and health programs that are costing more and more as the U.S. population ages.
(Editing by David Wiessler)