The Senate on Tuesday voted 61-37 to pass an $838 billion economic stimulus package with the support of only three Republicans -- Sens. Olympia Snowe (Maine), Susan Collins (Maine) and Arlen Specter (Pa.), the Los Angeles Times reports (Hook, Los Angeles Times, 2/10). After the vote, House and Senate negotiators began discussions to reconcile the differences between their versions of the stimulus package. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called the differences "fairly minor," and both Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday said that they hope to pass a final stimulus package by the Presidents Day recess. However, the "negotiations are expected to be contentious," the Washington Post reports (Murray, Washington Post, 2/11). According to the New York Times, the "bills reflect differences in spending priorities amounting to tens of billions of dollars" (Herszenhorn/Zeleny, New York Times, 2/11).

Some of the differences involve the amount of funds for federal subsidies for health insurance under COBRA, as well as a provision to expand eligibility for the program that appears only in the House version. In addition, the Senate version of the stimulus package includes $1 billion less than the House version for health information technology. The House and Senate versions of the stimulus package also include different formulas for distribution of additional federal Medicaid funds for states (Washington Times graphic, 2/11). The House version of the stimulus package also includes a provision not included in the Senate version that would expand Medicaid eligibility for recently unemployed workers (Murray, Washington Post, 2/11).

Senate Democrats will need support from at least two Republicans to pass the final stimulus package, and the three Republicans who voted for the Senate version of the package are "monitoring negotiations" to determine whether they will support the final version, according to the Wall Street Journal (Hitt/Weisman, Wall Street Journal, 2/11).

Obama Calls for Bipartisan Negotiations
At a town hall meeting in Florida on Tuesday, President Obama called for congressional Democrats and Republicans to work together in negotiations on the final economic stimulus package, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports (Loven, AP/Long Island Newsday, 2/10). Obama said, "When the town is burning, you don't check party labels. Everybody needs to grab a hose" (CongressDaily, 2/10).

Health Care IT Provisions
House and Senate negotiators are "waging a battle" over the patient privacy provisions included in the health care IT portion of the economic stimulus package, the Christian Science Monitor reports. According to the Monitor, the "need for patient confidentiality could conflict with the effort to improve overall outcomes" because of limits placed on the information that researchers and physicians receive on the comparative effectiveness of various treatments.

The House version of the stimulus package would require health care providers and health insurers to inform patients of any unauthorized disclosures of their medical information, a provision that many in the health industry maintain could cost billions of dollars. The Senate version of the stimulus package would allow the HHS secretary -- who would consider cost issues -- to establish rules related to unauthorized disclosures of medical information (Marks, Christian Science Monitor, 2/11).

In related news, the New York Times on Wednesday examined how the "biggest outlay on initiatives" in the stimulus package is "essentially a technology industry wish list" (Savage/Kirkpatrick, New York Times, 2/11).

Effects for Federal Agencies, States
Two newspapers recently examined the effects that the economic stimulus package could have for federal agencies and states. Summaries appear below.Federal agencies: The House and Senate versions of the stimulus package would "represent a massive windfall for agencies across the federal government" and could lead to "improved health care services," among other efforts, the Post reports. For many federal agencies, the amount that they receive in large part would depend on which version of the stimulus package will pass, as the House version includes "considerably more" funds for federal agencies than the Senate version, according to the Post (Vogel/O'Keefe, Washington Post, 2/10).

States: The stimulus package "could prove the difference between temporary solvency" for states and "drastic cuts to health care" and other programs, the AP/Kansas City Star reports. According to the AP/Star, the "lack of clarity" on which version of the stimulus package will pass has prompted some governors to develop budget plans based on estimates that could "change drastically before the bill is finalized" and others to wait to release their plans or develop plans that assume no funds from the package (Fouhy, AP/Kansas City Star, 2/10)…