House passes rescue bill sans GOP backing

As expected, the Obama administration's $819 billion rescue package for the US economy sailed through the House of Representatives, with 244 for and 188 against.

However, the vote was almost entirely along party lines, showing that the Republicans are banding together as an opposition party despite the new president's manifest appeals (See: Obama visits Republicans to push relief bill). 

All Republicans who were present voted against the bill. They were joined in their opposition by 11 Democrats. This is a clear blow to President Obama's push for bipartisan support for the bill, after he had argued that a new style of politics is needed in Washington.

A far tougher test awaits the bill in the Senate, with the GOP banding together and even some Democrats opposing it.

Just ahead of the House vote, the Republicans insisted that their own plan, focusing on greater tax relief, would create twice as many new jobs - 6.2 million - as Obama's plan, while costing about half as much. Even so, passage of the House bill was a victory for Obama, who had visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to push for his plan.

The bill presented to the House had originally been estimated to cost $825 billion, but recalculations by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) lowered the bill's price tag to $816 billion.

That again rose by $3 billion when the House approved on a voice vote a Democratic amendment for mass transit.