WASHINGTON -Senate leaders called off plans to vote on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan late last night in hopes that a group of centrist lawmakers from both parties would be able to fashion a compromise that would cut the cost of the $937 billion bill and win support from at least a few Republicans.
After a long day of behind-the-scenes negotiations, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, dropped plans to hold a final vote on the bill. The bipartisan group worked into the night to trim up to $100 billion, an attempt to bring moderate Republicans on board without driving Democrats away.
The stimulus bill is a cornerstone of Obama's efforts to revive the economy. But his hopes for bipartisan support have faded amid Republican complaints that it is laden with spending that would not promote the creation of jobs and does not offer enough in tax cuts. The House passed the legislation without a single Republican vote, and its price has grown by about $100 billion since reaching the Senate.
Yesterday, the Senate rejected a full-scale alternative proposed by former GOP presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona that would have provided more tax cuts and less spending than Obama wants.
If the overnight effort to find a bipartisan compromise fails, Reid said, the final vote might not come until next week.
Obama's personal and political prestige are on the line, because he has been deeply involved in lobbying reluctant senators and trying to reach across the aisle to Republicans. The president showed a flash of impatience yesterday morning, saying: "The time for talk is over. The time for action is now."
Speaking in the evening to House Democrats at a retreat in Williamsburg, Va., Obama warned that without swift action on the bill, "an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe."
After the Senate votes, the bill could be substantially revised in a conference committee that will reconcile differences between the Senate and House versions.
The bill is a sweeping package of tax breaks for individuals and for businesses to spur economic growth; expanded benefits for the unemployed; aid to states to help maintain health and education services; and funding for highway repairs and other infrastructure projects.
It includes a hodgepodge of other items, such as spending for increased broadband access in rural areas and for computerizing medical records, which Democrats say will modernize the economy and contribute to long-term growth.
