Senate Democrats fail to expand stimulus bill
Republicans block an effort to provide aid to seniors, disabled veterans and the nation's jobless.
WASHINGTON — Unwilling to compromise with Republicans on a two-year, $204-billion economic stimulus package, Senate Democrats failed Wednesday night to include aid to millions of senior citizens, disabled veterans and out-of-work Americans.
Democrats may now have to settle for only some of the spending if they want to augment a smaller stimulus package that easily cleared the House last month. That measure is a combination of tax rebates, incentives for business investment and housing assistance.
"I think the American people would have welcomed a bipartisan effort," said Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), who voted for the package but bemoaned the collapse of cross-party cooperation on the stimulus package.
The Senate Democratic proposal stalled on a procedural vote, falling a vote short of the 60 needed to end a filibuster.
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois voted for the package. Republican presidential hopeful John McCain of Arizona missed the vote.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised to send some kind of stimulus legislation to the president by the end of next week.
His spokesman said late Wednesday that Reid was considering another vote on the measure, perhaps today. "Sen. Reid is going to give Republicans a chance to reconsider their vote," Jim Manley said.
Unless he can find a GOP senator to switch, however, Reid may be stuck with something more limited. He could offer a vote on a proposal backed by Senate Republicans to send rebate checks to more than 20 million senior citizens living on Social Security and some 250,000 disabled veterans, both of whom are not covered in the House stimulus package.
Wednesday's vote marked the possible demise of a nearly two-week effort by Senate Democrats to greatly expand on the compromise speedily worked out last month by the White House and the leaders of both parties in the House.
The House package -- which would inject an estimated $161 billion into the economy over the next two years and cost the Treasury $117 billion over the next decade -- won unusually broad bipartisan support, passing 385 to 35.
It would allow single filers to get a $600 rebate that would begin phasing out for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes over $75,000. Married couples would get $1,200; that rebate would start to phase out at $150,000. Parents would get $300 for each child.
