Senate to try again on stimulus after impasse on spending cuts

Obama says House to set aside ‘gamesmanship’ and finish the legislation.

The US Senate put off a vote on President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package until at least on Friday after lawmakers failed to agree on how to cut the more than $900 billion package.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, facing demands from a bipartisan group of lawmakers for more than $50 billion in cuts, last night postponed work on the plan until today. As he pushed for a vote on the bill, he also said work on it might continue into the weekend.

“The answers aren’t here tonight,” Reid said. “I’m optimistic that we can get something done.” He also said, “Everyone’s going to have to give a little.”

Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican leading the push for cuts, said yesterday her Republican colleagues want it to total $800 billion or less. “We’re talking about a substantial reduction in the bill,” she said. “We’re trying to really focus it.”

Democratic leaders “are eager for us to produce a bill that can get 60 or plus votes, and that’s what we’re working on,” Collins said. “I do believe at this moment that we’re going to be able to achieve it.”

Democrats, who control 58 seats in the chamber, would need the backing of some Republicans to get the 60 votes necessary to end debate on the bill.

Obama speech: Obama, in a campaign-style speech tonight, urged lawmakers to set aside “gamesmanship” and finish the legislation. “If we do not move swiftly to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, an economy that is in crisis will be faced with catastrophe,” Obama told House Democrats at their annual retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. “Millions more Americans will lose their jobs. Homes will be lost. Families will go without health care. Our crippling dependence on foreign oil will continue. That is the price of inaction.” Without directly criticising Republicans, Obama said that the policies pursued by former President George W Bush and his congressional allies weren’t the answer to grappling with the current crisis.

“We’re not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that in eight short years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin,” Obama told the House Democrats. “We can’t embrace the losing formula that offers more tax cuts as the only answer to every problem we face.”

House Bill: The House last month passed a stimulus package worth $819 billion without any Republican votes. The stimulus package under consideration in the Senate has grown to more than $930 billion after lawmakers added tax breaks aimed at helping the housing and auto industries and a budget increase for the National Institutes of Health.