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Senators reach deal on US stimulus bill

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-07 12:43

US Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) squints as he recalls exact numbers on a compromise deal to try to pass President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package at the US Capitol in Washington February 6, 2009. [Agencies]

After five days of negotiations, Democrats agreed to more than US$150 billion in cuts to their earlier US$937 billion proposal to trim what critics, most of them Republicans, called billions of dollars in unwarranted spending.

Related readings: Obama names advisory panel Tentative stimulus deal reached Obama asks Democrats to quickly pass stimulus plan Obama economic plan tops $900b

"We've got a deal," Senator Sherrod Brown declared after a meeting with fellow Democrats on the measure.

Democratic Senator Ben Nelson, a leader of the group, said the stimulus would help to jolt the struggling US economy through middle-class tax cuts and targeted investment.

"We trimmed the fat, fried the bacon and milked the sacred cows," he said on the Senate floor.

The Senate met as official data showed US job losses accelerating in January and the unemployment rate surging to a 16-year high.

Despite that news, US stocks rallied for a second day on Friday partly in anticipation of a possible accord on the stimulus.

If the measure passes, lawmakers would have to resolve differences between it and an US$819 billion version of the legislation approved last week by the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote.

Once a final bill is crafted and passed by both chambers, the measure would be sent to Obama to sign into law.

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