Spurred on by President Barack Obama, an $838 billion economic recovery plan advanced toward passage in the Senate on Tuesday, after clearing a last procedural hurdle with the help of three Republicans on Monday evening.
| Collins, Snowe, Specter. Remember them next election. |
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), ill with cancer, returned for the 61-36 roll call in a dramatic show of Democratic unity behind Obama — and a landmark shift in fiscal policy in the face of the economic crisis facing the nation.
Republican support was confined to three moderates: Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe and Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. All had a major hand in negotiating provisions in the bill, including a Collins-Specter deal last Friday to scale back the package by $108 billion. But the lack of more bipartisan support remains a disappointment for the White House and leaves the president battling criticism from his defeated rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
“This is neither bipartisan nor a compromise,” McCain said in a biting speech on the floor. “It is generational theft.” |