House passes $819 billion stimulus package

By Jackie Calmes / THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — Without a single Republican vote, President Barack Obama won House approval Wednesday for an $819 billion economic recovery plan as congressional Democrats sought to temper their own differences over the enormous package of tax cuts and spending.
The massive two-year stimulus package reflects a broad view in Congress that urgent fiscal help is needed for an economy in crisis, at a time when the Federal Reserve has already cut interest rates almost to zero.
But the size and substance of the stimulus package remain in dispute. House Republicans complained that it tilted heavily toward new spending instead of tax cuts.
All but 11 Democrats voted for the plan, and 177 Republicans voted against it. The 244-188 vote came a day after Obama traveled to Capitol Hill to seek Republican backing.
Every Democratic House member from Texas backed the bill.
"The cost concerns me, but even Sen. John McCain's economic adviser urged its approval," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. "Most Central Texas families with a student in college will benefit directly from the higher education tax credit provision I authored. Our public schools, work force commissions and transportation systems will receive substantial new federal funding."
The Doggett-backed tax credit, worth up to $2,500 a year for the first four years of higher education, would effectively replace two existing deductions, although those two wouldn't immediately be eliminated.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin criticized the bill's cost and what he called its "pork spending."
"It's unfortunate that the Democrats, who control this process, once again took advantage of a dire economic situation," McCaul said. "They loaded this emergency bill with spending that has nothing to do with creating jobs."
Obama, in a statement hailing the House passage of the plan, didn't take note of the partisan divide but signaled that he expects changes to be made in the Senate that might attract support.
"I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk," he said. "But what we can't do is drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way. We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do."
Obama followed the House vote with a cocktail party at the White House for the congressional leaders of both parties from the House and the Senate. The House Republicans, including the minority leader, John Boehner of Ohio, were fresh from their votes against the recovery package.
The failure to win Republican support in the House seemed to echo the early months of the last Democratic administration, when President Bill Clinton in 1993 had to rely solely on Democrats to win passage of a deficit-reduction bill that was a signature element of his presidency.
As Senate Democrats prepare to bring their version of the package to the floor Monday, Democrats from the House and the administration indicated they ultimately would accept a provision in the emerging Senate package that would adjust the alternative minimum tax to hold down many middle-class Americans' income taxes for 2009. The provision wasn't in the House-passed legislation.
The cost of the alternative minimum tax provision would drive the overall package's tally to nearly $900 billion. That would exceed the roughly $850 billion limit that Obama has set for Congress, according to House Democratic leadership aides, and leave no room for other proposals that senators of both parties are sure to seek during Senate debate next week.
While the House and Senate measures are similar, they are likely to differ in ways that could snarl a conference committee and delay getting a measure to the president. In particular, House and Senate Democrats are split over how to divide $87 billion in relief to the states for Medicaid, with senators favoring a formula more beneficial to less populous states.
Democrats' own differences aside, they also are under pressure from the White House to be open to proposals from Senate Republicans who might support the final legislation if their interests are accommodated, and to proposals that might draw a few House Republican supporters on a final vote next month.
The provision on the alternative minimum tax, for example, was a top priority for Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who successfully added it during the Finance Committee's work on the legislation Tuesday.
Democrats' goal is to have the stimulus package, which is roughly two-thirds new spending and one-third tax cuts, to Obama's desk for his signature by Feb. 13, before Congress leaves for its Presidents Day break.
"He said he wanted action, bold and swift, and that is exactly what we're doing today," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.