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In a major victory for President Barack Obama,
Democrats muscled a huge, $787 billion stimulus bill to the brink
of final passage Friday night in hopes of combating the worst
economic crisis since the Great Depression. Republican opposition
was nearly unanimous.

      The vote in the House was 246-183 for the package of tax cuts
and federal spending that Obama made the centerpiece of his plan
for economic recovery.


      The Senate was following suit in a roll call that was without
suspense but extended into the night. That was to allow time for
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown to fly back from Ohio, where his
mother died earlier in the week. His was the decisive, 60th vote
for the bill.

      Obama is expected to sign the bill soon.
      Supporters said the bill would save or create 3.5 million jobs.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer conceded there was no guarantee,
but he said that "millions and millions and millions of people
will be helped, as they have lost their jobs and can't put food on
the table of their families."

      Vigorously disagreeing, House Republican leader John Boehner of
Ohio dumped a copy of the 1,071-page bill to the floor in a gesture
of contempt. "The bill that was about jobs, jobs, jobs has turned
into a bill that's about spending, spending, spending," he said.
No House Republican voted for the measure.

      The legislation, among the costliest ever considered in
Congress, provides billions of dollars to aid victims of the
recession through unemployment benefits, food stamps, medical care,
job retraining and more. Tens of billions are ticketed for the
states to offset cuts they might otherwise have to make in aid to
schools and local governments, and there is more than $48 billion
for transportation projects such as road and bridge construction,
mass transit and high-speed rail.

      Democrats said the bill's tax cuts would help 95 percent of all
Americans, much of the relief in the form of a break of $400 for
individuals and $800 for couples. At the insistence of the White
House, people who do not earn enough money to owe income taxes are
eligible, an attempt to offset the payroll taxes they pay.

      In a bow to political reality, lawmakers included $70 billion to
shelter upper middle-class and wealthier taxpayers from an income
tax increase that would otherwise hit them, a provision that the
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said would do relatively
little to create jobs.

      Also included were funds for two of Obama's initiatives, the
expansion of computerized information technology in the health care
industry and billions to create so-called green jobs the
administration says will begin reducing the country's dependence on
foreign oil.

      Asked for his reaction to House passage of the bill, Obama said
"thumbs up" and indeed gave a thumbs-up sign as he left the White
House with his family for a long weekend in Chicago.

      Congress cast its votes as federal regulators announced the
closing of the Sherman County Bank in Loup City, Neb. It was the
10th failure this year of a federally insured bank and the latest
reminder of the toll taken by recession and frozen credit markets.


      The day's events at the Capitol were scripted to allow
Democratic leaders to fulfill their pledge to send Obama
legislation by mid-February.

      "Barack Obama, in just a few short weeks as president, has
passed one of the biggest packages for economic recovery in our
nation's history," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, anticipating
final Senate passage.

      The approval also capped an early period of accomplishment for
the Democrats, who won control of the White House and expanded
their majorities in Congress in last fall's elections.

      Since taking office on Jan. 20, the president has signed
legislation extending government-financed health care to millions
of lower-income children who lack it, a bill that President George
W. Bush twice vetoed. He also has placed his signature on a measure
making it easier for workers to sue their employers for alleged job
discrimination, effectively overturning a ruling by the Supreme
Court's conservative majority.

      Obama made the stimulus a cornerstone of his economic recovery
plan even before he took office, but his calls for bipartisanship
were an early casualty.

      Republicans complained they had been locked out of the early
decisions, and Democrats countered that Boehner had tried to rally
opposition even before the president met privately with the GOP
rank and file.

      In retrospect, said White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, the
White House wasn't "sharp enough" in emphasizing the benefits of
the bill as Republicans began to criticize spending on items such
as family planning services, anti-smoking programs and reseeding
the National Mall.

      Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid faced a different task -
finding enough GOP moderates to give him the 60 votes needed to
surmount a variety of procedural hurdles. To do that, he and the
White House agreed to trim billions in spending from the original
$820 billion House-passed bill, enough to obtain the backing of GOP
Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter of
Pennsylvania.

      As the final compromise took shape in a frenzied round of
bargaining earlier this week, it was trimmed again to hold the
support of the moderates, whose opposition to a new program for
federal school construction caused anger among House Democrats.

      In the end, a compromise was reached that allows states to use
funds for modernizing schools. But in a display of displeasure,
Pelosi decided to skip the news conference last Wednesday where
Reid announced a final agreement.


      In addition to tax relief for individuals and businesses who
purchase new equipment, lawmakers inserted breaks for first-time
home buyers and consumers purchasing new cars in an attempt to aid
two industries particularly hard-hit by the recession. In response
to pressure from lawmakers from Pennsylvania, Indiana and
elsewhere, the bill was altered at the last minute to permit the
buyers of recreational vehicles and motorcycles to claim the same
break as those buying cars and light trucks.

      In the House, all 246 votes in favor were cast by Democrats.
Seven Democrats joined 176 Republicans in opposition.

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Business and Economic News

Politics and Government News

Handing the new administration a big win, the
House Friday passed President Barack Obama's $787 billion plan to resuscitate the economy. No Republicans voted for the bill, which now goes to the Senate for action.

Democrats muscle huge stimulus to brink of passage

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