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Senators reach deal on US stimulus bill
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-07 12:43
After five days of negotiations, Democrats agreed to more than US$150 billion in cuts to their earlier US$937 billion proposal to trim what critics, most of them Republicans, called billions of dollars in unwarranted spending.
Democratic Senator Ben Nelson, a leader of the group, said the stimulus would help to jolt the struggling US economy through middle-class tax cuts and targeted investment.
The Senate met as official data showed US job losses accelerating in January and the unemployment rate surging to a 16-year high. Despite that news, US stocks rallied for a second day on Friday partly in anticipation of a possible accord on the stimulus. If the measure passes, lawmakers would have to resolve differences between it and an US$819 billion version of the legislation approved last week by the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote. Once a final bill is crafted and passed by both chambers, the measure would be sent to Obama to sign into law. |