Shortly after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner unveiled the Obama
administration's Financial Stability Plan to unfreeze the credit
markets, the Senate voted 61-37 to approve the White House's $838
billion economic stimulus
plan, as three moderate Republicans joined with Democrats to overcome
Republican attempts to block the
legislation.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate will now have to come together and
iron out the
considerable differences between the two versions of the legislation.
The hope is that both sides can come to an agreement and get the bill
to President Obama within a week. The three Republicans who voted in
favor of the legislation are Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Arlen
Specter, R-Pa., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
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The president has warned of economic "catastrophe" without the bill.
But bucking the party isn't sitting well with some conservative
Republicans. According to Fox News, a conservative political action committee Tuesday vowed to pour money
into primary challenges against any Republican who votes for the economic rescue package.
"Republican senators are on notice," said Scott Wheeler, executive
director of the National Republican Trust PAC, or NRT. "If they support
the stimulus package, we will make sure every voter in their state knows
how they tried to further bankrupt voters in an already bad economy."
While no one was named, it was obviously directed at the
three Republican senators who broke ranks to advance the Senate version
of the bill Monday. Specter is up for re-election during the 2010
midterm elections and Snowe in 2012. Collins was re-elected in 2008 and
therefore won't be up again until 2014. - Donna Block
