WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, passed this morning by the Senate, now goes to a conference committee, where differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill will have to be worked out.
State governors are clamoring to restore Senate cuts in the state-stabilization funds, and Obama said in a press conference on Monday night that he would like to see some of the education funding cut by the Senate restored.
Sen. Mark Udall, an Eldorado Springs Democrat, who presided over today’s vote, said that wiggle room in the Senate version is very limited if they want keep the three moderate GOP senators who voted for the bill on board.
He said he saw little chance that they would support the restored education funding.
As for the $40 billion in direct aid to state budgets cut by the Senate: “There may be some room (to restore a portion of) the state-stabilization funds, but that would have to be offset elsewhere in the package, so that may be a non-starter,” Udall said, adding that 80 percent of the money in the Senate version would be spent within two years, an improvement over the House version.
“I think both sides of the Capitol know the bill is not perfect, but this bill will do an enormous amount to stimulate the economy,” Udall said.
Sen. Michael Bennet, a Denver Democrat, who joined Udall in the group of about 20 senators who negotiated the compromise passed today, echoed Obama’s sentiments on restoring some of the cuts.
“While this bill contains historic spending increases for education, I am hopeful that during conference negotiations there will be an opportunity to restore a portion of the education funding that was scaled back here in the Senate,” Bennet said in a release.
With passage of the bill today, he added: “We can begin the difficult task of rebuilding our economy and putting America back to work.”
