Senate could begin debating stimulus tonight

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that he could bring a Senate version of an economic stimulus package to the floor as early as this evening, rebuffing President Bush’s warning against his chamber tinkering with the White House-approved deal.

Reid had some tough words for Bush when asked at a mid-day press conference about the president urging the Senate to act on the House-passed measure without making any changes.

{mosads}"We don't need his approval for everything we do here," Reid said of Bush. "The White House hopefully will learn in the last few months of this administration that this is a give-and-take proposition. We're all working toward the same goal, and that is to stimulate the economy."

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has offered a rival proposal to a deal that the House and Bush reached last week. Baucus would broaden the legislation worked out behind closed doors by extending unemployment insurance — something House Democrats agreed to give up in negotiations with House Republicans — boosting the size of tax rebates and granting them to more people, including senior citizens who don’t pay taxes and the wealthy.

Most significant is that Baucus would lift the income caps in the House legislation that would phase out rebates for individuals earning more than $75,000 or couples whose joint income exceeds $150,000. That proposal is strongly opposed by Democrats.
 
But Reid said Bush doesn't have the only say-so in the process, insisting that the Senate would play a role. Reid said a floor vote is possible following the afternoon markup.

At a Democratic lunch Tuesday, Reid said no Democrats supported Baucus’s proposal. Yet he conceded that a "delicate balance" needs to be struck, since Baucus's idea was an effort to gain crucial Republican support in a chamber that needs 60 votes to move legislation.