Amazingly fast, since the final vote on the first Senate proposal took place only Tuesday, the House and Senate came to quick agreement on a reconciled stimulus package on Wednesday. Or did they?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said:
"The middle ground we've reached creates more jobs than the original Senate bill and costs less than the original House bill."
However, the New York Times reportedly said "not so fast." Or at least, that's what the House of Representives are saying.
According to both the NYT and MSNBC, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was conspicuous in her absence of the agreement.
According to CNN, the holdup involves school funding. In fact, the difference sounds relatively minor and should be (hopefully) quick to come to an accord.
Senate Democratic leadership aides said the holdup concerns the addition of $10 billion for school construction and modernization.
In the Senate version, $10 billion was added to the $44 billion allocated toward "state stabilization" to help school infrastructure.
But aides said House members would rather this $10 billion in funding go through Title I, which would assign the funds based on need, as opposed to giving the money to governors through the state stabilization vehicle.
President Barack Obama has said publicly that he wants a stimulus bill to sign by President's Day, which is Monday.
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