Restitutor Orbis

Reuters reports that the stimulus bill has narrowly cleared the Senate:

The U.S. Senate on Monday moved a step closer toward approving President Barack Obama's plan to jolt the U.S. economy out of recession with government spending and tax breaks, setting up a vote to pass the $838 billion emergency package on Tuesday.

After a week of contentious debate, senators reached a deal to pare down the stimulus bill by about $100 billion and voted 61-36, with minimal Republican support, that it was time to hold a final ballot at 12:00 p.m. EST Tuesday.

What happens next, if the bill passes the final vote tomorrow, is that "the Senate and House of Representatives will enter final negotiations on a compromise bill, with Obama arbitrating disputes." There is some slight hope that some of the impact of the bill can be restored before it's signed into law, but the chances do not appear promising given Republican opposition. Even after all the negotiations that have taken place, only three Republicans voted for passage today - Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter.

According to Reuters, "Obama wants the stimulus legislation on his desk for signing into law by this weekend in the hope that it will begin to create and save up to 4 million jobs."

Obama's approval rating, according to a new Gallup Poll, is at 67%, quite a bit higher than Republicans would like to admit (in fact, most of those I've run into on Digg refuse to accept so high a figure - they insist Obama's popularity is slipping). According to Gallup:

President Obama receives a 67% approval rating for his handling of the government’s efforts to pass an economic stimulus bill, compared to 31% for the Republicans in Congress. A majority of Americans (51%) agree that passing such a bill is critically important to improving the nation’s economy.

Another bit of good news on the horizon that deserves mention is the possibility of an investigation into what went on during the Bush administration. According to Reuters,

A U.S. "truth commission" should investigate Bush administration policies including the promotion of war in Iraq, detainee treatment and wiretapping without a warrant, an influential senator proposed on Monday.

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, urged a commission as a way to heal what he called sharp political divides under former President George W. Bush and to prevent future abuses.

He compared it to other truth commissions, such as one in South Africa that investigated the apartheid era.

Though, of course, Republicans are against the possibility, Leahy is correct in saying an investigation must be made:

"We need to come to a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past," Leahy said in a speech at Georgetown University.

"Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened," the Vermont senator said. "And we do that to make sure it never happens again."