Senate Passes Huge Spending Bill Called Stimulus

Divided along party lines, Congress neared final passage of President Barack Obama's $787.2 billion recovery plan Friday night, a huge political gamble for Democrats but also a vital beachhead for the new administration as it tries to turn around the collapsing economy.

House passage came on a 246-183 vote—with no support from Republicans. The Senate began voting shortly before 5:30 p.m. but the roll call stretched on for hours in a near-empty chamber awaiting Sen. Sherrod Brown, who was flying back from his mother's wake in Ohio.

At 7 p.m., the vote stood at 59-38, making Brown the 60th vote Democrats need to waive a last budget point of order and have complete passage of the legislation. Three Republican moderates—Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania—voted as promised with the majority.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.), who despite his illness has returned at some risk to himself on earlier votes this month on the bill, was not able to vote today, requiring Brown to fly back-and-forth from Ohio where his mother’s funeral is being held Saturday.

Friday’s continued partisan divide in the House was extraordinary given all the changes made in the package since it first left the House in January. New tax breaks were added in negotiations with the Senate, spending substantially reduced and the overall cost of the package scaled back by more than $30 billion.

Republican aides had predicted this week that 10 to 20 party moderates could join in supporting the bill. But the grassroots pressure from conservatives has been immense, raising fears of Republican primary challenges. The result appears to be a hardening of positions—dramatized Thursday by New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg’s withdrawal as Obama’s nominee as Commerce secretary.

The mood in the Senate was more tempered, given the three Republican defections and the huge influence they had on reshaping the Democratic package. But Obama’s old rival, Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) was given the role of raising the crucial budget point of order against emergency spending in the bill. Gregg, just a day after withdrawing his name for the Cabinet, supported McCain. And even as McCain congratulated Obama on his anticipated victory, he was scathing in his comments.

“That this is bipartisan legislation is simply not accurate,” he said. “We want to work with the other side, and this is not the example that I think the American people wanted.” - Politico.com

OK, so technically it is not passed yet. It will be. The very very sad part about this is that almost none of the people voting has even read what the bill actually says.

The bill is said to not have any pet projects or earmarks, BULL!!! One pet project put in at the last moment was a high speed train from Vegas to Disney. That is a project that Harry Reid has wanted.

In the Senate it was the same 3 Republicans that voted last time for this bill, in the house there was not one Republican vote for it. This clearly draws the lines for the upcoming election in 2010. The Democrats outside of Washington already see the writing on the wall. They readily admit that the climate is not going to be right for them to hold their vast majority. Too bad the Democrats in Washington don't see how bad they are screwing up, or maybe that is a good thing. We only have to live with it for 2 years, but as you have seen today, a lot of damage can be done in one single day let alone 2 years.