WASHINGTON -- Less than a week after quickly crafting a rare bipartisan compromise, the House yesterday overwhelmingly passed a $150 billion economic stimulus package to send checks to millions of low- and middle-income Americans.
But what shape the final legislation will take remains unclear as the Senate begins debate on its own plan amid more signs of economic instability.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, will convene a meeting today to consider his version, which differs substantially from the House bill. Other senators are pushing a range of proposals that would augment the carefully crafted deal worked out last week by House leaders and the Bush administration.
The House measure - a mix of tax rebates, business incentives and relief for strapped mortgage holders - passed 385 to 35. But the lopsided vote did nothing to deter the Senate from seeking to put its own imprint on the politically popular legislation.
"What the House has done is important and good," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said yesterday, noting that there are 51 members of the Democratic caucus "without exception who believe this package can be made better."
The majority leader said he has received 15 letters from lawmakers proposing additions, including more spending on public works and more mortgage assistance.
The proliferating suggestions, which could jeopardize chances of passing a stimulus package by mid-February, have set off alarm bells in the White House and the House chamber.
On Monday, President Bush warned senators in his State of the Union speech not to "load up the bill" with additional pay-outs.
Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who worked with Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. to put together the bill, asked senators not to tie up the legislation. "I would hope that the timely aspect of this is recognized by our colleagues in the Senate," she said.
After the House version passed yesterday, Pelosi and Boehner stood together at a Capitol news conference to urge swift action.
The relatively simple House measure relies primarily on tax rebates for most households and a package of temporary tax breaks to encourage businesses to expand and create more jobs this year. Single filers would get a $600 rebate that would begin phasing out for taxpayers earning more than $75,000. The phase-out for married couples - who would get $1,200 rebates or more if they have children - would start at $150,000.
