Agreement reached on proposed stimulus bill

Negotiators have resolved the differences between the House and Senate versions of the stimulus bill, Sen. Harry Reid said Wednesday

 

The bills were really quite similar, and I'm please to announce that we've been able to bridge those differences," said Reid, the Senate Majority Leader.

"Like any negotiation, this involved give and take, and if you don't mind my saying so, that's an understatement," he said.

Negotiators worked late into the night to iron out differences between the two versions of the stimulus bill.

President Obama said he wanted the bill on his desk by Presidents Day, which is next Monday.

Reid praised the three "brave" GOP senators who broke ranks to the support the bill: Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Of the 219 Republicans in Congress, they were the only three to back the bill.

Earlier, two key senators involved in talks over the economic stimulus plan emerged from closed-door discussions in the Capitol to say negotiators had essentially reached an agreement on a $789 billion package, and only had minor issues to resolve before it was a done deal.

Multiple Democratic sources earlier offered details on topics that had to be worked out:

35 percent of the bill would be tax cuts, 65 percent would be spending.

Tax breaks for workers that had been set at $1,000 per family or $500 per individual would be scaled back to $800 per family and $400 per individual.

$44 billion in aid to states, including money for education and other services.

More funding to help people buy health insurance through the federal COBRA program.

$6 billion to $9 billion for modernizing and repairing schools.

The funding for schools is intended to assuage House Democrats who are upset the Senate cut $20 billion for school construction.

The emphasis on "modernizing and repairing" is meant to appease Senate centrists who believe school "construction" takes too long and therefore won't stimulate the economy, and that state governments, not the federal government, should be responsible for building schools

Baucus said it is possible the House could take the bill up as early as Thursday and the Senate possibly Friday.

The latest version of the compromise is lower than the House's $819 billion version and the Senate's $838 billion bill.

Before the stimulus bill can be signed into law, the House and Senate must reconcile the differences between their bills and pass a final version of the package. See what's in the bill »

President Obama wants the bill on his desk by Presidents Day, which is next Monday.

Democrats in the Senate must hold on to at least two Republican votes in order to get the 60 votes needed to pass the bill. Not a single Republican voted in support of the House version of the bill, but the House Democrats have a large enough majority that they were still able to pass it. iReport.com: Share your thoughts on the stimulus package

Three Republican senators voted in favor of the package: Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe, both of Maine, and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

They supported the bill after a bipartisan group of lawmakers reached a compromise agreement that trimmed billions in spending from an earlier version.

All three have said they may not vote for the final version if House Democrats add more spending projects to the legislation. Specter is the only one of the three who is up for re-election in 2010.

Specter said Wednesday he's aware of the political danger he's putting himself in, but action is needed to pump up the ailing economy.

"I understand the peril, but I didn't run for the United States Senate to further my own political interests," he said on CNN's "American Morning."

"I think when you have a decision like the one that we're facing now, there's only one way to respond and that's to respond with action