The Senate cleared a major hurdle to passing a massive stimulus bill, but Republicans are still looking for ways to slim down or stop the package before a final vote on what is becoming an increasingly unpopular plan.
The Senate voted 61-36 to cut off debate on its $827 billion proposal, paving the way for final passage today. But getting the stimulus actually signed into law will get much tougher because senators will have to work out a compromise deal with the House, which passed its own $819 billion bill.
Democratic House leaders have already signaled they are not happy with the program cuts made to the Senate version, which contains more tax cuts than the House version. And as the Democratic majority hashes out those disagreements, the minority party may have an opportunity to derail the spending and tax package.
Republicans remain in nearly lockstep opposition to the bill and are engaging in a media blitzkrieg to expose what they believe to be a pork-laden proposal that would heap trillions of dollars in debt on future generations.
Republicans, said one GOP Senate leadership aide, have “doubled the amount of TV appearances that the Democrats have had in the last two weeks. It’s actually been a huge effort.”
The Republican Party’s sudden lack of timidity has been aided by poll numbers showing significant public opposition to the bill and the crush of angry phone calls to their offices from constituents.
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said his staffers have had “all kinds of harsh things said to them,” by angry constituents calling to complain about the stimulus proposal.
“There is money in there for electric golf carts,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., noted on the Senate floor.
Republicans hope their public relations efforts will pay off by further stirring opposition and perhaps scaring enough Democrats to drop their support.
But there was no evidence of that happening Monday in the Senate, as Democrats voted in unison to back a bill that they say would preserve and generate as many as 4 millions jobs, fund infrastructure improvements and enable cash-starved states to provide critical services.
And Democratic senators used their own theatrics to counter Republican criticism. On the Senate floor Monday, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., propped up an enlarged picture from a Miami government building, reportedly showing more than 1,000 people lined up to apply for 35 positions available with the city fire department.
“You can’t find a company in America that does not support this legislation, and that is because they know it is going to create jobs,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor just before Monday’s vote.
Some Democratic discontent was evident in the House. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., one of 11 swing Democrats to vote against the House stimulus, told a crowd in North Carolina, according to news reports, that the “House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed” at attracting bipartisan support for an effective stimulus bill.
