Ken Duberstein, who was President Ronald Reagan's chief of staff, said Reagan began working on an economic recovery plan before he took office.
"He dispatched people like me to go to Capitol Hill," Duberstein told the Brookings seminar. They talked to Democrats and Republicans about economic recovery and got Democrats on board during the transition to back an economic recovery package.
"It started back in transition, by prioritizing, by putting people in the right place," Duberstein said. "You can walk and chew gum at the same time. But you have to focus on walking first. That's the economy."
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