Senate passes Obama's economic recovery plan
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's economic
recovery plan has passed the Senate and is on its way to
difficult House-Senate negotiations. Just three
Republicans helped pass the plan on a 61-37 vote and
they're already signaling they'll play hardball to
preserve more than $108 billion in spending cuts made
last week in Senate dealmaking. Obama wants to restore
cuts in funds for school construction jobs and help for
cash-starved states.
Those cuts are among the major differences between the
$819 billion House version of Obama's plan and a Senate
bill costing $838 billion. Obama has warned of a
deepening economic crisis if Congress fails to act. He
wants a bill completed by the weekend.
The bill backed by the White House survived a key test
vote in the Senate Monday despite strong Republican
opposition, and Democratic leaders vowed to deliver
legislation for President Barack Obama's signature within
a few days.
Monday's vote was 61-36, one more than the 60 needed
to advance the measure toward Senate passage on
Tuesday. That in turn, will set the stage for possibly
contentious negotiations with the House on a final
compromise on legislation the president says is
desperately needed to tackle the worst economic crisis in
more than a generation.
The Senate vote occurred as the Obama administration
moved ahead on another key component of its economic
recovery plan. Officials said Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner would outline rules on Tuesday for $350 billion in
bailout funds designed to help the financial industry as well
as homeowners facing foreclosure.
Monday's vote was close but scarcely in doubt once the
White House and Democratic leaders agreed to trim about
$100 billion on Friday.
As a result, Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia
Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania broke
ranks to cast their votes to advance the bill.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., battling a brain tumor,
made his first appearance in the Capitol since suffering a
seizure on Inauguration Day, and he joined all other
Democrats in support of the measure.
"There is no reason we can't do this by the end of the
week," said Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. He
said he was prepared to hold the Senate in session into
the Presidents Day weekend if necessary, and cautioned
Republicans not to try and delay final progress.
He said passage would mark "the first step on the long
road to recovery."
Moments before the vote, the Congressional Budget
Office issued a new estimate that put the cost at $838
billion, an increase from the $827 billion figure from last
week.
"This bill has the votes to pass. We know that," conceded
Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican who has
spoken daily in the Senate against the legislation.
As if to underscore its prospects for passage, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, a prominent and powerful
business group, issued a statement calling on the Senate
to advance the measure.
Even so, in the hours before Monday's vote, Republican
opponents attacked it as too costly and unlikely to have
the desired effect on the economy. "This is a spending bill,
not a stimulus bill," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
All 36 votes in opposition were cast by Republicans.
The two remaining versions of the legislation are relatively
close in size — $838 billion in the Senate and $819 billion
in the House, and are similar in many respects.
Both include Obama's call for a tax cut for lower-income
wage earners, as well as billions for unemployment
benefits, food stamps, health care and other programs to
help victims of the worst recession in decades. In a bow
to the administration, they also include billions for
development of new information technology for the health
industry, and billions more to lay the groundwork for a new
environmentally friendly industry that would help reduce
the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
At the same time, the differences are considerable.
The measure nearing approval in the Senate calls for
more tax cuts and less spending than the House bill,
largely because it includes a $70 billion provision to
protect middle-class taxpayers from falling victim to the
alternative minimum tax, which was intended to make sure
the very wealthy don't avoid paying taxes.
Both houses provide for tax breaks for home buyers, but
the Senate's provision is far more generous. The Senate
bill also gives a tax break to purchasers of new cars.
Both houses provide $87 billion in additional funds for the
Medicaid program, which provides health care to the low
income. But the House and Senate differ on the formula to
be used in distributing the money, a dispute that pits
states against one another rather than Republicans
against Democrats.
There are dozens of differences on spending.
The Senate proposed $450 million for NASA for
exploration, for example, $50 million less than the House.
It also eliminated the House's call for money to combat a
potential flu pandemic.
On the other hand, the Senate bill calls for several billion
more in spending for research at the National Institutes of
Health, the result of an amendment backed last week by
Specter.
轉貼自：
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090210/ap_on_go_co/congress_stimulus
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