Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

US House approves stimulus plan

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-14 08:54

"It's a plan that will ignite spending by businesses and consumers, make the investments necessary for lasting economic growth and prosperity," Obama said, adding that 90 percent of jobs saved and created would be in the private sector.

US President Barack Obama is pictured in the reflection of a mirror as he speaks on the economic stimulus package to be voted on Capitol Hill, during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington February 13, 2009. [Agencies]

The final package includes about $500 billion in spending and money for social programs like the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor. It has about $287 billion in tax cuts that include small tax incentives to spur home and automobile sales as well as business tax deductions.

Three Republican Votes

Democrats trimmed down the package from as much as $937 billion to secure the votes of three Republicans that were needed to overcome procedural hurdles in the Senate and win final passage.

Special Coverage: World Financial Crisis Related readings: Obama more popular than his plan Obama hails agreement on stimulus US Senate passes $838b stimulus 'Stimulus bill could backfire on US'

Republican Senators Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter agreed to back the legislation if it was below $800 billion. To achieve that, one major cut was tens of billions of dollars from grants to help states plug growing budget gaps.

Money for building schools was also stripped out and congressional negotiators severely scaled back tax incentives aimed at boosting flagging home and car sales that were deemed too expensive.

Still, the measure includes almost $54 billion to help states with their budget deficits and to modernize schools, $27.5 billion for highway projects, $8.4 billion for public transportation and $9.3 billion for Amtrak and high-speed rail service.

The final agreement also included limits on compensation for senior executives of companies receiving government aid from the $700 billion financial bailout, including restrictions on bonuses.

   Previous page 1 2 Next Page  

   Previous page 1 2 Next Page