Senate approves jobs bill, Medicaid funds

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate Thursday approved a $26 billion plan to save the jobs of thousands of teachers across the country and help state Medicaid programs.

The bill is now headed back to the U.S. House, where Democratic leaders scheduled a Tuesday vote to approve the legislation and send it on to President Barack Obama for signing.

The Washington Post said Democrats in the Senate approved the bill 61-39 with the help of two Republicans. Wednesday, those two Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, helped Democrats break a GOP filibuster of the bill.

Lawmakers from both parties indicated the measure is probably the end of the line for spending bills aimed at boosting economic activity.

"I think that this should be sort of the final down payment," said Snowe.

"Washington needs to take care of its own fiscal mess, not deepen it by bailing out the states," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Post reported. Americans "are alarmed at the fact that the federal government is now for the first time in our history the single largest source of revenue for the states."

The U.S. Education Department estimates the education funding would save the jobs of about 160,000 teachers and other educators, with California getting the most funding, $1.2 billion to preserve about 16,500 jobs.

Governors are promised $16.1 billion to help pay Medicaid bills, Politico reported, and $10 billion will be distributed to state and local school boards to stave off teacher layoffs.