February 13, 2009
(CNN) --
President Obama hopes the plan will help
boost an economy in freefall with a
combination of government spending and
tax cuts and credits.
Approved earlier by the House, the plan
-- which went through multiple
permutations as it bounced back and
forth on Capitol Hill over the past week
-- now goes to Obama's desk, where he
plans to sign it into law by Presidents
Day.
Spending in the package includes about
$120 billion for infrastructure -- new
projects repairing bridges, roads,
government buildings and the like --
more than $100 billion for education and
$30 billion on energy-related projects
that Obama says will create "green
jobs."
More than $212 billion goes to tax
breaks for individuals and businesses,
and another $267 billion is in direct
spending like food stamps and
unemployment benefits.
The Congressional Budget Office has
predicted that the plan will create
between 1 million and 3 million jobs.
Most individuals will get a $400 tax
credit, and couples will get $800.
The vote by the Senate took several
hours longer than a simple roll call of
its 100 members generally would. Sen.
Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio,
attended a wake for his mother until
about 8 p.m. Friday.
Voting began about 5:30 p.m. Then, the
Senate
chamber sat nearly empty until Brown
arrived to vote about five hours later.
He
was flown from Ohio to Washington on a
plane provided by the White House, which
said no commercial flights were
available that would have allowed Brown
to cast a vote and return to Ohio in
time for his mother's funeral Saturday.
As
had been the case when the original
version of the package passed, the
stimulus
package garnered no Republican support
in the House. The compromise
legislation, which was hammered out by
House and Senate leaders and White House
staff over the past several days, passed
in the House on a 246-183 vote.
Three Republicans -- Susan Collins and
Olympia Snow of Maine and Arlen Specter
of Pennsylvania -- supported it in the
Senate. Their support was needed to give
the plan the 60 votes needed to keep it
from being shut down by Republican
parliamentary procedures.
Although the package was signed off
on by leadership Thursday, a written
version wasn't available to most
lawmakers until about 11 p.m.
Some Republicans in the House expressed
frustration over how little time they
had to read the 1,000-plus-page bill,
and others predicted ruin if it passed.
"Just because Republicans spent too much
money after September 11 and lost our
way on financial matters doesn't mean
the Democratic party should be allowed
to wreck our ship of state," said Rep.
Zach Wamp, R-Tennessee. "This is taking
us quickly down the wrong road. Vote
no."
Other lawmakers, however, said they were
hopeful the stimulus plan would get the
economy back on track.
"We know this bill alone will not solve
all of our economic woes overnight. We
know that the road back to economic
stability and prosperity will require
hard work over time," said Rep. Ed
Perlmutter, D-Colorado. "But this bill
is the right size and scope necessary to
truly help us turn things around."
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts,
who returned to Capitol Hill for votes
this week, was not present for the final
vote because he returned to Florida to
continue his recovery from brain cancer.
The bill passed the Senate 60-38.
The overall package is estimated to be
35 percent tax cuts and 65 percent
spending, Democratic sources said.
Senate gives $787 billion stimulus bill
final approval
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