$61B stimulus bill sputters in Senate; Bush vows veto

WASHINGTON — The House on Friday passed a bill intended to revive the economy with $61 billion of federal spending, but the Senate blocked consideration of a similar bill, and President Bush issued veto threats against both.

The economic-recovery package, approved in the House by a vote of 264-158, has little chance of becoming law on its own. But it could become a bargaining chip in negotiations between Congress and the White House over Bush's $700 billion proposal to shore up the nation's financial system.

Moreover, Democrats said the legislation served a political purpose, giving them an opportunity, they said, to put Republicans on record against helping people who are struggling in a sluggish economy.

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the bill "would make life a little less miserable for people who have been hit hard by the economic chaos that's swept over the country."

Another Democrat, Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, noted that the measure provided money to extend unemployment benefits. "If we don't act, more than a million people will exhaust their unemployment benefits before the end of the year," he said.

But Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said the bill would do little to stimulate the economy. "It's meant to stimulate the electoral prospects of a couple of hundred members of Congress," Flake said.

In the Washington delegation, Republican Dave Reichert joined Democrats in voting for the proposal, while Republicans Doc Hastings and Cathy McMorris Rodgers voted against it.

By a vote of 257-166, the House on Friday also passed a separate bill providing tax breaks to encourage the development and use of renewable-energy sources such as wind and solar power.

The Senate has included similar incentives in a different bill that would also make other changes in the tax code. The Washington delegation split along party lines, with Democrats voting for it and Republicans against.

It was not clear whether the clean-energy proposals would become law. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a champion of alternative fuels, said haggling between the Senate and the House had "already delayed millions of dollars of investment in clean-energy technology."

The Senate's bill, which it passed this week, would extend the tax credit for investments in solar energy for eight years, through 2016.

As for the economic-stimulus legislation, House and Senate versions alike would extend unemployment benefits and increase food-stamp allotments and provide more federal money to states to finance health insurance for low-income people on Medicaid.

In addition to those provisions, the legislation would provide money for highways, bridges, airports, mass transit, school repairs, water projects and other public works.

In February, Bush signed a bipartisan bill to revive the economy by sending rebate checks to millions of taxpayers. But Democrats said more was needed because the economy in many parts of the country remained weak.

On Friday, the Senate voted 52-42 for a motion to consider its version of the stimulus bill, which would cost $56 billion. Supporters needed 60 votes for the measure to proceed. Both of Washington's senators, Democrats Patty Murray and Cantwell, voted for the bill.

In threatening a veto, Bush said the bills "will not provide short-term stimulus or long-term growth for the economy." Instead, the bills "would simply increase government spending, including self-perpetuating entitlement spending, by tens of billions of dollars."

Also

Johnson pardon: Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, should be granted a posthumous presidential pardon for a racially motivated conviction 75 years ago that blemished his reputation and hurt his boxing career, the House recommended Friday. Johnson became world heavyweight champion in 1908. The measure now goes to the Senate, where Republican presidential nominee John McCain has a companion resolution.

Kennedy illness: Sen. Edward Kennedy, 76, D-Mass., who has brain cancer, was taken by ambulance to a hospital Friday near his Cape Cod, Mass., vacation home after a seizure but returned home a few hours later. A statement from the senator's office attributed the episode to a change in medications.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.