Will Any Other Republicans Support the Stimulus Deal?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged just before 3 p.m. today with a passel of senators in tow to announce that a compromise between the House and Senate on President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package had been reached.
That a deal has been brokered is not surprising. Obama made it clear that this was his number one legislative priority, and campaigned hard over the last 72 hours for quick passage of the bill. With Democrats in control of the House and Senate, not passing a bill was never an option.
The question now becomes how many Republican votes the bill can attract and whether it will allow Obama to claim a bipartisan victory on the bill.
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The Fix polled a handful of wise Democratic Hill operatives today on that very question. In the Senate, possible GOP switchers include George Voinovich (Ohio), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Richard Lugar (Ind.) while in the House Reps. Fred Upton (Mich.), Mike Castle (Del.) and Jim Gerlach (Pa.) are potential switches, according to these sources.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2009/02/econstimpack_deal_reached_how.html