The U.S. Senate Thursday passed a package of tax rebates for millions of Americans and business tax cuts aimed at reviving the sluggish economy. The measure was quickly approved later by the House of Representatives by a vote of 380 to 34. President Bush is expected to sign the bill shortly. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.
The 81 to 16 vote came after Senate Democrats and Republicans reached a deal to include rebate checks to disabled veterans and retired Americans who receive social security - two groups who were left out of an economic stimulus package approved by the House last week.
The measure, which would give checks of up to $600 to American taxpayers, is aimed at heading off a recession this election year.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, along with other Senate Democrats, 07 Feb 2008
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is Nevada Democrat:
"The best way to stimulate the economy is to get money into the hands of those who will spend it immediately," said Harry Reid.
Democrats dropped their demands to include home heating assistance and expanded unemployment benefits after Republicans blocked the proposal Wednesday.
After days of partisan wrangling on the package, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky praised the compromise.
"We were able to put aside our differences, not only here in the Senate, but with our colleagues in the House as well and the administration, to make an important statement that we are concerned about the slowing of our economy, and that we want to do something significant about it very quickly," said Mitch McConnell.
The legislation also makes clear that no rebates are to be provided to illegal immigrants.
The United States Capitol 
The United States House of Representatives has passed the bipartisan 152 billion economic stimulus package that gives one-time rebates to United States citizens, US$600 for individuals or US$1,200 for couples plus US$300 for each child. US$300 checks would be sent to people on low-income including retirees on  which was not included in the original bill backed by President George W. Bush. The plan would begin to decrease rebates for citizens with taxable incomes of US$75,000 for individuals and US$150,000 for couples. The checks would go out to more than a 130 million Americans according to Treasury secretary .

The House overwhelmingly approved the more broad Senate amended bill which included the low-income portion mentioned above along with provisions that would keep  from receiving a rebate check. Despite some opposition from some Congressmen, such as  of , the plan passed overwhelmingly 380–34.

Campbell called the plan "wealth redistribution" and noted it did not have safeguards to prevent illegals from receiving these rebates and also claimed that stimulus plan would increase the deficit more and noted the cause of the looming recession was because of "credit problems."

The United States Senate voted hours earlier on the bill which passed in the Senate, 81–16. after having to shed some incentives included by Senate  which caused the bill to fail. Some of the incentives that were left out of the plan in a compromise to gain  support were demands for benefits for long-term unemployed workers and stipulation that would allow low-income citizens to pay off heating bills and let home builders pay off losses off the current year against previous tax years. 

President Bush approved of the package, noting in a statement, "This plan is robust, broad-based, timely, and it will be effective, this bill will help to stimulate consumer spending and accelerate needed business investment."