The Senate was set Saturday to debate a pared-down plan to pump at least 780 billion dollars into the troubled US economy, as President Barack Obama called for urgent action to stem rising unemployment.
While senators planned a rare Saturday session ahead of a vote early next week, Obama hailed the provisional deal and said a wave of job losses required immediate measures.
"In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face," he said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
"The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now," Obama said, calling the breakthrough "positive" even though the deal so far has generated scant Republican support.
The accord's price tag would be far smaller than the 937 billion dollars previously under consideration, a reduction aimed at winning over elusive Republican support that was entirely absent when the House of Representatives passed its 820-billion-dollar version of the measure last week.
If the measure clears the Senate, both chambers of Congress would reconcile their rival bills, and then vote on the resulting final product, which Obama has said he wants on his desk by February 16.
Obama planned to rally support for the plan with two campaign-style trips next week, to Indiana and Florida, looking to highlight the crushing human toll of rising unemployment. And he will hold his first prime-time press conference on Monday to pressure lawmakers.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signalled that he believed his 58 Democratic senators had just enough Republican support to secure the 60 votes needed to thwart any legislative delaying tactics and said he hoped for a vote on Monday.
"We're doing everything we can to make sure that this severe recession we're in does not become another Great Depression," Reid said, as all but a handful of Republicans vowed to oppose the deal.
The new compromise measure emerged, under pressure from the White House and ever-grimmer unemployment numbers, from closed-door talks by a group of swing-vote Republicans and Democrats.
"We trimmed the fat, fried the bacon and milked the sacred cows," said Democratic Senator Ben Nelson, a leader of the group.
The final cost could rise to about 800 billion dollars because of various amendments still pending, Senate sources said, as Republican foes of the original package quickly trained their guns on the new agreement.
"Most of us are deeply sceptical that this will work, and that level of scepticism leads us to believe that this course of action should not be chosen," said Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Republicans said their calculations put the new bill at roughly 830 billion dollars, plus nearly 350 billion dollars in debt service -- meaning the overall price tag was about 1.2 trillion dollars.
"We're talking about an extraordinarily large amount of money and a crushing debt for our grandchildren," said McConnell.
"If this legislation is passed, it will be a very bad day for America," said Republican Senator John McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
Labour Department data Friday showed the US unemployment rate surged in January to 7.6 percent, the highest since 1992, while the nearly 600,000 jobs lost was the worst such number since 1974.
Obama urged lawmakers to approve the measure without delay.
"If we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe," he said.
The US leader lauded the draft measure as one providing "jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and levees and dams," and which provides "immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class."
While senators planned a rare Saturday session ahead of a vote early next week, Obama hailed the provisional deal and said a wave of job losses required immediate measures.
"In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face," he said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
"The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now," Obama said, calling the breakthrough "positive" even though the deal so far has generated scant Republican support.
The accord's price tag would be far smaller than the 937 billion dollars previously under consideration, a reduction aimed at winning over elusive Republican support that was entirely absent when the House of Representatives passed its 820-billion-dollar version of the measure last week.
If the measure clears the Senate, both chambers of Congress would reconcile their rival bills, and then vote on the resulting final product, which Obama has said he wants on his desk by February 16.
Obama planned to rally support for the plan with two campaign-style trips next week, to Indiana and Florida, looking to highlight the crushing human toll of rising unemployment. And he will hold his first prime-time press conference on Monday to pressure lawmakers.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signalled that he believed his 58 Democratic senators had just enough Republican support to secure the 60 votes needed to thwart any legislative delaying tactics and said he hoped for a vote on Monday.
"We're doing everything we can to make sure that this severe recession we're in does not become another Great Depression," Reid said, as all but a handful of Republicans vowed to oppose the deal.
The new compromise measure emerged, under pressure from the White House and ever-grimmer unemployment numbers, from closed-door talks by a group of swing-vote Republicans and Democrats.
"We trimmed the fat, fried the bacon and milked the sacred cows," said Democratic Senator Ben Nelson, a leader of the group.
The final cost could rise to about 800 billion dollars because of various amendments still pending, Senate sources said, as Republican foes of the original package quickly trained their guns on the new agreement.
"Most of us are deeply sceptical that this will work, and that level of scepticism leads us to believe that this course of action should not be chosen," said Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Republicans said their calculations put the new bill at roughly 830 billion dollars, plus nearly 350 billion dollars in debt service -- meaning the overall price tag was about 1.2 trillion dollars.
"We're talking about an extraordinarily large amount of money and a crushing debt for our grandchildren," said McConnell.
"If this legislation is passed, it will be a very bad day for America," said Republican Senator John McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
Labour Department data Friday showed the US unemployment rate surged in January to 7.6 percent, the highest since 1992, while the nearly 600,000 jobs lost was the worst such number since 1974.
Obama urged lawmakers to approve the measure without delay.
"If we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe," he said.
The US leader lauded the draft measure as one providing "jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and levees and dams," and which provides "immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class."
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