Obama urges fast action on Senate stimulus bill
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Barack Obama's Inauguration
US President Barack Obama has predicted a "difficult next few days" as the Democratic-controlled Senate debates an almost US$900 billion stimulus package of federal spending and tax cuts amid Republican opposition.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he hoped to push the measure through the chamber by Friday after considering a stack of amendments offered by Republicans as well as members of his own party.
But Republicans - who last week withheld support from a similar measure in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives - appeared ready to fight to put more emphasis on tax cuts and less on new spending.
"We're not trying to prevent a package from passing. We're trying to reform it - reformulate it," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told a Capitol Hill news conference.
McConnell, of Kentucky, said most members of his party believed the package can be trimmed and should be aimed initially at easing record home foreclosures, which have largely been blamed for the deepening recession.
At the White House, Obama told reporters, "There are still some differences between Democrats and Republicans ... between the White House and some of the products that have been discussed.
"But what we can't do is let various modest differences get in the way of the overall package moving forward swiftly," he said.
Obama, who met on Capitol Hill last week with House and Senate Republicans, planned to confer at the White House later in the day with congressional Democratic leaders.
Many Republicans and some Democrats have complained that a number of provisions in the package would not stimulate the economy and are little more than a liberal wish list, such as US$50 million to promote the arts and US$335 million to educate people about sexually transmitted diseases.
McConnell said Republicans would seek to help battered homeowners, key victims in the fiscal downturn.
Republicans will propose providing government-backed home mortgages at an interest rate of 4 per cent to credit-worthy borrowers, McConnell said.
Obama, in an interview with NBC on late Sunday, said, "We're going to be trimming out things that are not relevant to putting people back to work right now."
Said McConnell, "I couldn't agree with that more."
The Senate bill contains US$342 billion in temporary tax breaks and more than US$545 billion in spending to total about US$887 billion.
Spending proposals include measures to upgrade education and healthcare, bolster energy programs and rebuild crumbling roads and bridges.
The House passed a somewhat different version last week without any Republican support. Senate Democrats will need at least two Republican votes, however, to clear possible procedural roadblocks.
Once the Senate passes its bill, negotiators from the two chambers will seek to resolve differences and then send a final bill to Obama to sign into law. The president has said he wants such legislation by the middle of the month.
Speaking with reporters at the White House, Obama said he expected a "difficult next few days" as the Senate wrangles over a stimulus bill.
But the president voiced optimism that a final bill could be crafted within the next few weeks.
"We can put America back to work and start digging ourselves out of this deep hole we're in," the president said.
- Reuters
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