Signs Of Political Harmony Over Stimulus

CNBC.com

For all the drama in Washington about a looming fight over an economic stimulus bill, it is looking more and more as if Congress will be able to promptly pass legislation President Barack Obama will sign.

While Obama has said he wants strong, bipartisan backing for an $825 billion tax-cut and spending bill, Republicans are still balking at his spending proposals and offering some of their own tax-cut ideas.

But there are some telling developments that point to a coming together:

—Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted Friday that legislation would pass by mid-February, which is the deadline Obama gave Congress. "I think we will come behind a package. I hope it will be a package that most of my members can support."

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, said he backed the tax-cut provisions developed by the Democratic chairman of the panel, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana.

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"I think on the tax provisions, including the size of the package, it's about right." Speaking with reporters Thursday, Grassley also said he and fellow Senate Republicans probably "buy into" 90 percent of the Democrats' economic stimulus legislation. He said one "impediment" would be the large federal aid to states that Democrats want to provide.

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—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, asked Friday whether he was worried Republicans would block the economic stimulus package, told reporters, "No." Reid's one-word response came after a meeting Obama held at the White House with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress.

—House Minority Leader John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who has criticized the Democrats' plan as spending too much on programs that will not create jobs, said he and other Republicans had a "very productive meeting" with Obama Friday and there was "unanimity" the U.S. economy needed help.

—Obama is working to show Republicans he is listening to them. He plans to go to Capitol Hill early next week to solicit Republican lawmakers' views again on how best to stimulate the economy.

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