WASHINGTON — Less than a week after quickly crafting a rare bipartisan compromise, the House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a $150-billion economic stimulus package to send checks to millions of low- and middle-income Americans.
But what shape the final legislation will take remains unclear as the Senate begins debate on its own plan amid more signs of economic instability.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) will convene a meeting today to consider his version, which differs substantially from the House bill. And other senators are pushing a number of proposals that would augment the carefully crafted deal announced last week by House leaders and the Bush administration.
The House measure -- a mix of tax rebates, business incentives and relief for strapped mortgage-holders -- passed 385 to 35. But the lopsided vote did nothing to deter the Senate from seeking to put its own imprint on the politically popular legislation.
"What the House has done is important and good," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday afternoon, but there are 51 Democratic senators "without exception who believe this package can be made better."
The majority leader said he had received 15 letters from lawmakers proposing additions, including more spending on public works and more mortgage assistance.
The proliferating suggestions, which could jeopardize chances of passing a stimulus package by mid-February, have set off alarm bells in the White House and the House of Representatives.
On Monday, President Bush warned senators in his State of the Union speech not to "load up the bill" with additional payouts.
And Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) -- who worked with House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson to put together the bill -- repeatedly asked senators not to tie up the legislation. "I would hope that the timely aspect of this is recognized by our colleagues in the Senate," she said.
After the House version passed, she and Boehner stood together at a Capitol news conference to urge swift action.
The relatively simple House measure relies primarily on tax rebates for most households and a package of temporary tax breaks to encourage businesses to expand and to create more jobs this year. Single filers would get a $600 rebate that would begin phasing out for taxpayers earning more than $75,000. The phase-out for married couples -- who would get rebates of $1,200 or more if they have children -- would start at $150,000.
