In a losing effort, Congressman Ed Whitfield and every other Republican in the House of Representatives, as well as seven Democrats, voted against passage of the unprecedented package of spending and tax cuts. The measure sailed through the Democratically-controlled House 246-183 and quickly moved to a senate roll call where it lacks only one vote to reach final approval. That missing vote is expected later tonight when Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown returns from home from his mother's funeral.
Kentucky GOP Sens. Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning both voted against the package in the upper chamber, but three moderate Republicans sided with Democrats to reach 59 votes. Brown, a Democrat who has voted for a larger version of the stimulus plan in the past, is expected to send the bill to Obama's desk to become law.
On the House floor, GOP Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner of Ohio charged that the bill gained passage without one member of congress having read the 1,100-page document.
