What You Need to Know: 02.10.09

Senate passes $838 billion stimulus bill
"President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan has passed the Senate and is on its way to difficult House-Senate negotiations.

Just three Republicans helped pass the plan on a 61-37 vote and they're already signaling they'll play hardball to preserve more than $108 billion in spending cuts made last week in Senate dealmaking. Obama wants to restore cuts in funds for school construction jobs and help for cash-starved states."

Geithner Details New Bank Rescue Plan
"Acknowledging that Americans have “lost faith” in the government’s effort thus far to rescue the banking system, the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, outlined a sweeping overhaul and expansion of the program on Tuesday.

The new program will attempt to marshal as much as $2 trillion from the Treasury, private investors and the Federal Reserve.

Hoping to address the bitter unpopularity of the program among voters and lawmakers in Congress, Mr. Geithner vowed that the Treasury will greatly increase the program’s openness to the public and demand much stricter accountability from financial institutions that receive government help."

Obama in Florida to rally stimulus support
"Fresh from his first White House news conference, President Barack Obama hit the road on Tuesday to rally support for a huge economic stimulus plan among Americans hit by the deepening recession.

Obama, who for days has urged the Congress to pass a more than $800 billion spending and tax-cutting bill, has travelled to Florida, a state that has been struck especially hard by the economic downturn."

New Media Breaks in, but Tradition Lives On
President Obama on Monday evening became the 10th American president to call on Helen Thomas at a White House news conference. And he was the first to call on Sam Stein, a reporter for The Huffington Post, whose Internet publication sprung to life during Mr. Obama’s candidacy.