Congressional Democrats said Sunday that President-elect Barack Obama probably will have to wait until next month before getting the chance to sign an economic aid bill his team once hoped would be on his desk by his swearing-in Jan. 20.

"It's going to be very difficult to get the package put together that early," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said. "But we certainly want to see this package passed through the House of Representatives no later than the end of this month, get it over to the Senate, and have it to the president before we break" in mid-February.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colorado said Sunday the package is a top priority. “I think everyone is in agreement that the economic circumstance that America faces today is a very severe one and we need to have action that gets our economy up and running again.”

How to do that is where Republicans and Democrats disagree.

Obama said Congress should pass a plan designed to create 3 million jobs. The Democratic president-elect hasn’t announced a final price for it, but aides said the cost could be as high as $775 billion.

Congressional aides briefed on the measure say it probably would blend tax cuts of $500 to $1,000 for middle-class individuals and couples with about $200 billion to help revenue-starved states with heir Medicaid programs and other operating costs. A large portion of the measure will go toward public works projects and include new programs such as research and development on energy efficiency and an expensive rebuilding of the information technology system for health care.

Congressman-elect Mike Coffman, R-Colorado said he believes states should be funded by loans instead of grants. “States would deal with loans more responsibly. The appropriate role for the government is to loan money.”

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky warned Democrats against trying to move quickly without the GOP’s input.

“This is an enormous bill. It could be close to $1 trillion spending bill,” McConnell said. “Do we want to do it with essentially no hearings, no input, for example, in the Senate from Republican senators who represent half of the American population? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Obama planned to meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Monday to talk about enacting a massive spending plan. The president-elect also scheduled a separate meeting with the entire Democratic and Republican leadership teams.

Reid said they will do their "very, very best" to get a package finished as soon as possible, but he was unwilling to set an artificial deadline for completion.

"We're going to get it done as quickly as we can," Reid said.