A Senate amendment to the federal economic stimulus package passed Tuesday cut about $59 billion in funding for education and state governments from the version of the bill approved by the House of Representatives. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 61-37.
The Senate and the House must now draft a compromise bill to submit to President Barack Obama.
The amendment, drafted Friday night, was a compromise to gain Republican support. Three moderate Republicans -- Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn. -- eventually signed on to the bill.
All senators who caucus with the Democrats, along with the three Republicans, voted to end debate on the bill on Monday, surpassing the 60 votes needed, and then voted to approve the bill itself on Tuesday.
The Senate's version of the bill differs substantially from the version approved by the House on Jan. 28, as the compromise amendment replaced about $108 billion in targeted spending with tax cuts and credits.
Reductions in education aid constitute about half of this cut.
The Senate's amendment slashes about $40 billion in support over two years from a stabilization fund that serves principally to maintain state funding for public education at 2008 levels.
The Senate version of the bill also eliminates a total of $19 billion originally proposed by the House for "shovel-ready" construction and repair projects at schools and universities, according to The New York Times.
The Senate bill adds $70 billion to prevent tax increases for people who would otherwise have to pay the Alternate Minimum Tax and $35.5 billion in tax credits for home buyers. It also increases the $2.7 billion allocated for biomedical research by the House bill to $10 billion.
Specter defended the spending cuts in an editorial in The Washington Post, arguing that the stimulus package is not the appropriate place for education funding.
"[The legislation] preserves the job-creating and tax relief goals of [Obama's] stimulus plan while cutting less-essential provisions -- many of them worthy in themselves -- that are better left to the regular appropriations process," Specter wrote.
The spending cuts have drawn criticism from liberal commentators, including economist Paul Krugman, who said in an opinion column in The Times on Monday that the cut programs, including school construction, direct aid to states and unemployment benefits, are "measures that would do the most to reduce the depth and pain of this slump."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has indicated that House Democrats will fight to reinstate the cut programs in the compromise bill, according to The Times.
Pelosi has called any cuts to direct spending "very damaging," adding that the House version of the bill was carefully designed to create jobs in a cost-effective manner, The Times reported.
The New Hampshire state government will not take into account potential funding from the stimulus package while planning its annual budget, Colin Manning, press secretary for Gov. John Lynch, D-N.H., said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"We are not relying heavily on stimulus money to come in and fill budget holes," Manning said, but added that any additional funding for Medicaid would be "very helpful."
The governor has recently announced plans to cut government programs and jobs due to a budget shortfall.
Snowe, Collins, Specter and Pelosi could not be reached for comment. The White House press office did not return requests for comment by press time.
