It Is Done

From Taegan Goodard:

House and Senate negotiators agreed to a $789 billion stimulus package this afternoon.

Final votes in both chambers could come as soon as Thursday with the bill reaching President Obama's desk on Friday.

Despite the messiness of the legislative process, it's a very big victory for Obama. In the short run, massive amounts of spending on popular projects around the country will only enhance the new president's stature. He also scores points for acting in a bipartisan fashion even if few Republicans voted for the deal.

Of course, in the longer run, Obama's fate is ultimately tied to whether the economy turns around. Time will tell.

I am confident this will go a long way toward turning this economy around. It'll be a very rough year or two, but had the government done nothing we could have seen a major depression through the end of the next decade.