The House and Senate approved the stimulus bill, primarily with Democratic support as Republicans lick their wounds claiming lack of bipartisanship. The House vote was 246-183, and the Senate was 60-38, with the key support of Maine's Collins and Snowe and Pennsylvania's Specter. The $787 billion legislation is far from perfect with, I have argued, too much in tax breaks for business and not enough in direct spending, but clearly some government action is necessary to begin to move the U.S. economy out of the doldrums that it finds itself in.
Regretably, the GOP seems to be set on posturing about the economy, whining about the lack of bipartisanship (which they seem to interpret as anything that isn't the same as when they were in control) and hoping to convince American voters that the same tired old policies of the past that got us into this mess (tax cuts and borrowing) would be better than the infrastructure spending and support for lower income and unemployed in the bill. President Obama reached out in unprecedented ways to the GOP and certainly "sat down together" with them to try to get them to work with him on a good stimulus package. McCain's whine that he is off to a "bad beginning" therefore sounds like just more sour grapes.
Here's some coverage:
Dems power stimulus bill through Congress, MSNBC, Feb. 14, 2009
GOP senators say Obama off to bad start, CNN Politics.com,
Obama video : historic step (World Blog, NBC News Around the Globe), Feb. 14, 2009
Various links on the changing language in the Senate and House versions of the bill, readthestimulus.org
Bill Text, Division A (Appropriations)
Bill Text, Division B (Tax and other provisions)
Joint Explanatory Statement, Conference Committee (Appropriations)
Joint Explanatory Statement, Conference Committee (Tax and other provisions)
Detailed Summary, Ways & Means, Feb. 12, 2009
Bill Summary, Speaker's Website
Thomas.loc.gov link for H.R. 1
House Rules Committee link for Conference Report (has been posted, but the link is not working currently)
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