WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Tuesday that he would pull an economic stimulus bill off the Senate floor.
Daschle said Republicans and Democrats could not agree on a plan and that neither could meet the 60-vote test required in the Senate to overcome the inevitable objections of one party or another.
"With great regret, I will pull the bill tomorrow with the offer that should (Republicans) choose at any time to sit down and to sincerely want to find some solution, I'm ready. We're ready," Daschle said.
Daschle's decision came just one day after the Bush administration released its proposed budget for next fiscal year. That plan assumes that Congress would pass an economic stimulus bill worth $77 billion next year. Bush has received the support from a few Democrats in the Senate for what he calls a compromise plan.
Democrats have hammered the Bush budget for pushing into deficit spending and using funds that both parties had hoped to set aside to pay down the debt raised from Social Security payments.
Republicans have countered that deficit spending would only be required for a few years and that an economic stimulus package is needed to help the economy and create jobs.
