Three Republicans Help Send Bill to Vote

With the help of Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter, the Democrats locked in the votes needed to end debate on the bill.

The final vote was 61 in favor, 36 opposed.

The bill is expected to survive a full vote in the Senate on Tuesday, setting up a battle with the House as the two chambers try to iron out differences between their versions of the bill.

Obama wants both chambers to come to an agreement so he can have the bill on his desk by Presidents Day, which is next Monday.

The House's stimulus bill passed without a single Republican vote nearly two weeks ago. Senators spent the past week debating amendments. Late Friday, a working coalition of Democrats and some Republicans reached a compromise that trimmed billions in spending from an earlier version.

The price tag of $827 billion is roughly the same in both bodies, but the House and Senate differ on spending and tax cuts - CNN

The Democrats got three (3) Republican Senators to turn about and vote in favor of sending this bill to a full vote. The three will have to hope that in the sweeping distaste for this package that is rampant across the Country, people forget that they were the three that pushed it passed it's biggest hurdle. You can bet that there won't be many Republicans that forget.