The US Senate was to begin debate Monday on
an unprecedented 888-billion-dollar spending package designed to help pull the
US out of recession, but lawmakers remain divided over both its size and scope,
dpa reported.
President Barack Obama, who has staked his economic recovery hopes on the
stimulus' passage, urged legislators to iron out their differences swiftly. He
planned to meet with Democratic congressional leaders later Monday.
"There are still some differences between Democrats and Republicans ...
But what we can't do is let very modest differences get in the way of the
overall package moving forward quickly," Obama said after a White House
meeting with Vermont Governor Jim Douglas about the stimulus.
But opposition Republicans and some fiscally conservative Democrats still
oppose the legislation, which they say spends too much money on non-essential
programmes that will only balloon the country's already souring federal deficit
and create few jobs.
"We've been throwing figures around like it was paper money," said
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Obama hopes the package, a mixture of tax cuts and government spending
programmes, will revive consumer spending and create or save at least 3 million
jobs in the US in the next two years, after 2.6 million jobs were lost over the
course of 2008. The US has been in recession since December 2007.
The US House of Representatives approved its own 819-billion- dollar aid
package last week in a vote along party lines, but passage in the 100-member
Senate will require at least some Republican support. Legislation typically
needs at least 60 votes to overcome procedural measures that opponents can use
to block bills.
The Senate version is larger that the House's bill, primarily because of an
added provision that lowers middle-class taxes. McConnell said Republican
senators were keeping an "open mind" but would be pushing for
significant changes in the coming days. A vote could take place by Friday.
If it passes the Senate, lawmakers from both legislative chambers will have to
meet to resolve differences between their two versions. Democratic leaders have
promised to get a final stimulus bill approved and ready for Obama's signature
by the end of next week.