$838b stimulus plan passes a crucial test vote in Senate

WASHINGTON - An $838 billion economic stimulus bill backed by the White House survived a key test vote in the Senate yesterday despite strong Republican opposition, and Democratic leaders vowed to deliver legislation for President Obama's signature within a few days.

The vote was 61 to 36, one more than the 60 needed to advance the measure toward Senate passage today. That in turn, will set the stage for possibly contentious negotiations with the House on a final compromise on legislation the president says is desperately needed to tackle the worst economic crisis in more than a generation.

The bill's fate was sealed once the White House and Democratic leaders agreed to trim about $100 billion on Friday. As a result, Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania broke ranks to cast their votes to advance the bill. All 36 votes in opposition were cast by Republicans.

Moments before the vote, the Congressional Budget Office issued a new estimate that put the cost of the measure at $838 billion, an increase from the $827 billion figure from last week. That is relatively close to the $819 billion version passed by the House on Jan. 28 without a single Republican vote in favor.

The two versions, which would have to be reconciled in a House-Senate conference committee before reaching Obama's desk, are similar in many respects.

Both include Obama's call for a tax cut for lower-income wage earners, as well as billions for unemployment benefits, food stamps, healthcare, and other programs to help victims of the worst recession in decades.

In a bow to the administration, they also include billions for development of new information technology for the health industry, and billions more to lay the groundwork for a new environmentally friendly industry that would help reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

At the same time, the differences are considerable.

The Senate measure calls for more tax cuts and less spending than the House bill, largely because it includes a $70 billion provision to protect middle-class taxpayers from falling victim to the alternative minimum tax, which was intended to make sure the very wealthy don't avoid paying taxes.

Another major difference is the amount of direct aid to cash-strapped state governments. The Senate version of the bill would provide about $39 billion, compared to about $79 billion in the House measure. For Massachusetts, that means that the Senate would give $640 million to the Bay State, while the House version would provide $1.3 billion, according to Will Straw, an analyst at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress.

The state aid is only one part of the money that would go to Massachusetts. Overall, a variety of spending measures, Medicaid assistance, and tax cuts would provide at least $12.1 billion to the state under the Senate bill, compared with about $11.2 billion under the House measure, Straw said.

Those figures account for about two-thirds of the money in the stimulus bill; the remainder cannot be easily quantified on a per-state basis.

Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada said passage of the stimulus bill would mark "the first step on the long road to recovery."

"There is no reason we can't do this by the end of the week," he said, saying he was prepared to hold the Senate in session into the Presidents' Day weekend if necessary and cautioning Republicans not to try to delay final progress.

Underscoring its prospects for passage, the US Chamber of Commerce, a prominent and powerful business group, issued a statement calling on the Senate to advance the measure.

Even so, in the hours before the vote, Republican opponents attacked it as too costly and unlikely to have the desired effect. "This is a spending bill, not a stimulus bill," said Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

The Senate vote occurred as the Obama administration moved ahead on another key component of its economic recovery plan. Officials said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would outline rules today for $350 billion in bailout funds designed to help the financial industry as well as homeowners facing foreclosure.

Michael Kranish of the Globe staff contributed to this report.