House passes $61 billion stimulus bill

As negotiations on a Wall Street bailout bill got back on track, the House passed a $61 billion economic stimulus bill Friday, that Democrats said was needed to help a struggling Main Street.

Democrats won the support of 41 Republicans in passing the measure on a 264 – 158 vote.

{mosads}A number of Republicans, including GOP leaders, objected to the bill on the grounds that it was rushed through the House.  Democrats sent the bill to the Rules Committee Thursday night and brought it to the floor Friday.

But Democrats had been talking about the broad outlines of their stimulus plan for months.  The bill they passed Friday included $18.5 billion for transportation and infrastructure projects that Democrats said will create jobs, as well as seven weeks of additional unemployment insurance payments for the entire country, as well as an additional 13 weeks for states with high unemployment.

The bill also included $15 billion in additional Medicaid funding for states, and $3 billion for food stamps.

But the bill’s prospects in the Senate were unclear.

Earlier Friday, the Senate failed, by a vote of 52 – 42, to cut off debate on a similar Democratic stimulus bill of its own.

House Democrats said they knew going into the vote that the bill had a doubtful future in the other chamber. But Democratic aides said the politics of the perhaps-$700 billion bill to shore up the financial sector may change the dynamics of the debate, and force Senate Republicans to rethink agreeing to a bailout for Wall Street while turning down a stimulus bill with a decidedly more populist feel.