>> SIGN-UP: Get breaking news sent to you
What he needs is the handful of moderate republican senators. On Tuesday he got just enough.
Speaking in Fort Meyers, Florida, a community hard hit by layoffs and foreclosures, President Obama said the time for talk is over.
"We can't afford to posture, and bicker, and resort to the same failed ideas that got us into this mess in the first place. That's what the election was about," said President Obama.
The President might well have been thinking of House republicans when he said that. Not a single republican in the House voted for the stimulus package, including Chico representative Wally Herger.
"I'm concerned that the democrats in both the House and the Senate just pretty much unilaterally did not accept, or even consider, virtually any of our amendments, or our thoughts," said Rep. Herger.
Herger told ABC7 Tuesday that the republicans in the House are standing up for fiscal responsibility. ABC7 Political Analyst Bruce Cain says there is another dynamic in play.
"Their strategy is to rehabilitate their image," Prof. Cain.
Professor Cain says he has heard from congressional staffers who say the GOP is using the stimulus fight to redefine themselves.
"It's not fair to say that it's all about talking points. But, I think it is fair to say that they see this as an opportunity to rebrand themselves, and they badly and desperately need to do this," said Cain.
Cain says House Republicans are irrelevant and that Nancy Pelosi has all the votes she needs without them.
But in opposing her, the GOP hopes to redefine itself. What the president must have is the support of moderates in the Senate. "Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Specter, Ben Nelson -- These are the key people to watch over the next couple of years," he says.
Over the next couple of days President Obama will be leaning on Senate Republicans and House Democrats to come together on a single version of the bill.
House Speaker Pelosi says an agreement will be reached.
"It's just unfortunate that we have to in doing so, reduce the number of jobs in the name of bipartisanship," said Speaker Pelosi.
But compromise with the senate version is what it's all about. But Tuesday's vote in the Senate was 61 to 37 -- just barely above the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster.
Today's latest headlines | ABC7 News on your phone
Follow us on Twitter | Fan us on Facebook | Get our free widget
