Senators reach deal to cut stimulus bill to $780B

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TweetWASHINGTON – With job losses soaring nationwide, Senate Democrats reached agreement with key Republicans Friday night on an economic stimulus measure at the heart of President Barack Obama's plan for combatting the worst recession in decades. "The American people want us to work together. They don't want to see us dividing along partisan lines on the most serious crisis confronting our country," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of two GOP senators who signaled support for the bill.

Officials put the cost of the measure at $780 billion in tax cuts and new spending combined. No details were immediately available, and there appeared to be some confusion even among senators about the price tag as floor debate continued late into the night.

The agreement capped a tense day of backroom negotiations in which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, joined by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, sought to attract the support of enough Republicans to give the measure the needed 60-vote majority.

In addition to Collins, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he would vote for the bill. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, remained uncommitted.

Democrat Edward M. Kennedy, who is battling a brain tumor, arrived in Washington in case his vote turned out to be needed. The Massachusetts senator has been in Florida in recent days and has not been in the Capitol since suffering a seizure on Inauguration Day more than two weeks ago.

Democrats hold a 58-41 majority in the Senate, including two independents, but it takes 60 votes to pass the stimulus bill because it would raise the federal deficit.

At $780 billion, the legislation would be smaller than the measure that cleared the House on a party-line vote last week. It also would mean a sharp cut from the version that has been the subject of Senate debate for a week. That measure stood at $937 billion.

Beyond the numbers, though, any agreement would mark a victory for the new president and would keep Democratic leaders on track to fulfill their promise of delivering him a bill to sign by the end of next week.

Obama said further delay would be "inexcusable and irresponsible" given Friday's worst monthly unemployment report in a generation — 598,000 jobs lost in January and the national unemployment rate rising to 7.6 percent. And late Friday, federal regulators announced the closures of two banks, First Bank Financial Services in Georgia and Alliance Bank in California, the seventh and eight failures this year of federally insured banks.

"The world is waiting to see what we're going to do in the next 24 hours," said Reid who has spent much of the week trying to balance demands among moderates in both parties against pressure for a larger bill from liberals in his own rank and file.

By midday, the majority leader had spoken once with Obama by phone and five times with Emanuel. He met with Collins and Specter as well as Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Nebraska Democrat who had long advocated cuts in the House-passed bill.

"We're clearly not there yet," Collins said at one point. She spoke with Obama at the White House earlier in the week, though, and told reporters as she shuttled between meetings in the Capitol, "I'm still hopeful that we can achieve a compromise because the stakes are high and the goal is important."

One Republican-proposed document that circulated earlier called for cuts of $60 billion from money Democrats want to send to the states. That money is targeted to avoid budget cuts for schools as well as law enforcement and other programs.

Talk of cuts in proposed education funds triggered a counterattack from advocates of school spending as well as unhappiness among Democrats.

One, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, told reporters he and others hoped that some of the funds on the chopping block would be restored next week when negotiations open on a House-Senate compromise.

At its core, the legislation is designed to ease the worst economic recession in generations, and combines hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending with tax cuts. Much of the money would go for victims of the recession in the form of food stamps, unemployment compensation and health care. There are funds, as well, for construction of highways and bridges.

But the administration also decided to use the bill to make a down payment on key domestic initiatives, including creation of a new health technology industry and so-called green jobs designed to make the country less dependent on imported oil.

And Democrats in Congress decided to add additional huge sums for the states struggling with the recession, as well as billions more for favored programs such as parks, the repair of monuments in federal cemeteries, health and science research and more.

With Obama enjoying post-inauguration support in the polls and the economy shrinking, Democratic leaders in Congress have confidently predicted they would have a bill to the president's desk by mid-February.

But Republicans, freed of the need to defend former President George W. Bush's policies, have pivoted quickly to criticize the bill for its size and what they consider wasteful spending.

The entire Republican rank and file voted against the measure in the House, effectively prodding senators to take up the same cause.

In the intervening days, Republicans have appeared to catch the administration and its allies off-guard, holding up relatively small items for ridicule and routinely seizing on comments from Democrats critical of the House-passed bill.

At the same time, they have stressed a desire to help the economy but have said they prefer tax cuts and spending that would have a more immediate impact on job creation.

Privately, Democrats in Congress have been critical of Obama and his aides for failing to counter the Republicans more effectively. In recent days, the president has sharpened his rhetoric against unnamed critics of the bill whom he accused of trying to re-establish the "failed policies" of the past eight years.

As Reid struggled to nail down the necessary votes, the White House announced Obama would travel to Florida and Indiana next week to campaign for a stimulus measure. Both states have Republican senators. The president also is scheduled to hold a prime-time news conference on Monday where questions about the economy are likely to dominate.

Despite the struggle, some Republicans seemed to sense the White House would ultimately prevail, and sought political mileage.

Obama "could have had a very, very impressive victory early on," said Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who heads the Senate Republican campaign committee. "But this is not turning out to be an impressive victory. it is turning out to be a little bit of a black eye."

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TweetBy the way this is a democratic passed bill. only 3 republicans out 300 voted for it.937 billion to $780 billion, but 45 billion in ammendments so its

$825 billion big fukin deal. that doesnt change a thing and dont forget intrest which then bumps it up to close to a trillion dollars again. plus 60% of americans who elected you into office still reject this bill you fukin dumb as blojama. this doesnt change a thing. you idiot you will fail the american people and this will be a long 4 years. wheres the bipartison ship you fuk reaching across the isle. bull shit

oh plus the total amount of this bill will be more the 1.1 trillion dollars even more

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Tweetwelfare as we know it is begining again. 42% tax cuts 58% spending.frisbee parks and golf courses in this spending bill. go look for your self. this fukin bill will not work.

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TweetThat bastard ran on a campaign of Hope. As soon as he took over he starts saying:"we are headed for the worst catastrophe in our nations history"...wtf? Frisbee parks and hiking trails and condom distribution...ya, thats going to save us all. F**K!

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Tweetheres the 3 republicans that voted for the bill

susan collins of maine
arnold spector
olympia snow of maine

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TweetSpector...arlin? Is he that idiot from PA Who wanted to charge bill bellichek with criminal charges for filming the eagles practices?
What an assshol e
How much of that $ is going to help homeowners in foreclosure? How bout people laid off with children and no income and no money for food? How much?

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TweetSpecter

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Tweetsusan collins

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TweetOlympia snow

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TweetArlen spector. That moron should be kicked out. He has made a fool of himself way too many times.
Stimulus my ass. This is opening the door to the worst fraud we will ever see. Can U say $5000 toilet seats?
?GOD HELP US ALL

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TweetCorruption is rampant in this shit. We are entrusting a trillion $ to a bunch o ****in crooks. Shaking my head in disbelief. Centralist govt is the bane of democracy. Govt by and for the People???

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welfare as we know it is begining again. 42% tax cuts 58% spending.frisbee parks and golf courses in this spending bill. go look for your self. this fukin bill will not work.

Lets remember that a "tax cut" is for people who actually pay taxes. The "cuts" that are in this bill are the expansion of the earned income tax credit. That is liberal bullsheit for the government giveaway for people who earn little to nothing and gov rewards them for having children that they can't afford and give them little incentive to earn more money. Enough of that rant.

"the $5,000 toilet seat"
With all due respect, it is govt specifications that lead to expensive items like this. If I asked you to produce a hammer for me but instead of choosing from one of 20 hammers that are alread on the market the govt wants it to be X weight, made of an alloy consisting A,B,and C metals.... and by the way, we only want 10 of them. If you were the company that had to produce this item, creat the molds, product test... would it be unreasonable to charge the gov $5,000? I think not! There is your $500 hammer.

Foreclosure
The government should NEVER be in the business of paying peoples mortgages for homes they cant afford. We have started down that path and it needs to end now! The housing market needs to unwind just like any other bubble or mania.
25 to 50 years from now, people will look back on this housing craze and say wow people were that dumb to keep buying houses when prices doubled in a four year period? And people who had already owned homes were stupid enough to go out and borrow money on their house based on those artificially high prices and piss the money away leaving themselves in debt for the next 30 years? Wow, what idiots!

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TweetSO TRUE FE. WHATS A MATTER FIT CAT GOT YOUR TOUNGE. AND DUDE YOU COULD OF PUT ALL 3 PICS IN THE SAME POST