WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON -- Just when House Democratic leaders and President Bush reached a rare political compromise on an economic stimulus plan, the Senate threatened yesterday to rain on their bipartisan parade.
Senators from both parties were drafting their own plans, which could increase spending and draw the ire of deficit-minded lawmakers. It could also complicate efforts to get checks in the mail to millions of Americans by late spring.
Sounding the alarm about Senate tinkering, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "We believe this is a very good, bipartisan compromise, and it would be unfortunate if the Senate did anything to slow it down or blow it up."
Although both chambers are controlled by Democrats, senators are notoriously protective of their prerogatives. "The Senate is not going to willy-nilly rubber-stamp what the House does," Sen. Max Baucus , a Montana Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a telephone interview.
Greg Valliere, chief political strategist for the Stanford Group Co. financial services firm, said he expects a plan to clear Congress, even if the Senate fiddles with it. "The Senate is notoriously independent and unwilling to be stampeded; this will be no exception," he said.
Still, he expects a package to become law within the next few weeks: "In the final analysis, most lawmakers are aghast to see their public approval ratings at all-time lows. This gives them an opportunity to show they can act quickly - even the Senate."
In a rare display of bipartisanship, House Democratic and Republican leaders and the president agreed Thursday to a roughly $150 billion plan that would provide tax rebates of as much as $1,200 per household - plus $300 per child - as well as business tax breaks to spur investment. Rebates would be phased out gradually for single filers earning more than $75,000 and couples earning more than $150,000 a year.
Bush had supported larger rebates of $800 to $1,600, but his plan would have left out 30 million working households of people who earn paychecks but don't make enough to pay income tax, according to calculations by the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center.
To address the mortgage crisis, the package raises the limit on Federal Housing Administration loans from $362,790 to as high as $729,750 in expensive areas, allowing more subprime mortgage holders to refinance into federally insured loans.
