US Congress passes stimulus plan

Barack Obama said it was crucial that legislators took action

The US Senate has voted in favour of Barack Obama's $787bn (£548bn) economic stimulus plan - clearing the way for it to be signed into law.

The vote came hours after the House of Representatives passed the measure without Republican backing.

Mr Obama has said the plan - a package of tax cuts and spending - will "save or create more than 3.5 million jobs".

Republicans argue the tax cuts are insufficient, and that the economy will be saddled with debt for years to come.

Members of both houses of Congress reached a deal over the content of the stimulus package on Wednesday.

The only thing the Democrats' stimulus bill will do is stimulate more government and more debt Mike Pence Republican representative Battle exposes partisan rifts

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington says the first set-piece drama of the Obama era ended in a comfortable but not entirely unqualified victory for the president, who had hoped for more bipartisan support.

All 176 Republicans and seven Democrats voted against the revised package in the House. It was backed by 246 House Democrats.

In the Senate just three Republicans voted for the package.

The rebel votes were however enough under Congress rules to stop the Republican Party using blocking tactics to obstruct the stimulus plan, and it passed 60-38.

'Helping families'

The approved version of the plan is split into 36% for tax cuts and 64% percent in spending and money for social programmes.

Republicans had insisted on larger tax cuts instead of big spending programmes.

We need to confront the crisis in the housing sector that has been one of the sources of our economic challenges US President Barack Obama

Republican representative Mike Pence said before the vote: "The only thing the Democrats' stimulus bill will do is stimulate more government and more debt."

But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said: "Millions and millions of people... who have lost their jobs and can't put food on the tables of their families will be helped by this bill."

Meanwhile, Mr Obama said that in the longer term the government needed to rein in spending.

"We are going to have to once again live within our means," he said.

"We have a once-in-a-generation chance to act boldly, and turn adversity into opportunity, and to use this crisis as a chance to transform our economy for the twenty-first century," the president told members of the Business Council in Washington.

"That's the driving purpose of the recovery and reinvestment plan that I've put before Congress."

"We need to confront the crisis in the housing sector that has been one of the sources of our economic challenges."

Presidential pressure

The House approved its $825bn version of the package last week without any Republican support.

The Senate voted to approve a different $838bn version on Tuesday, with few Republicans opting to back it.

The two versions had to be reconciled in a joint House-Senate committee before facing final votes in the two chambers.

President Obama increased the pressure on Congress this week, saying he wanted the bill on his desk ready to sign by the weekend.



http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGWdjc