By one vote, President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan passed the Senate and is now on its way to difficult House-Senate negotiations.
The $838 billion bill advanced Feb. 9 by a 61-36 vote. All 36 votes in opposition were cast by Republicans, who have strongly opposed the bill.
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 the 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.
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said, "The emperor has no clothes! Somebody has to say it. I'm referring to this additional bailout, this spending bill that spends everything we've got on nothing we are sure about."
Obama has warned of a deepening economic crisis if Congress fails to act. He wants a bill completed by the weekend.
Democratic leaders vowed to deliver the emergency legislation for Obama’s signature within a few days.
"There is no reason we can't do this by the end of the week," said Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said, he declared 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.
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 bills 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.
