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President Obama says his stimulus plan will spur job creation.

(CNN) - President Obama on Friday touted the benefits of his economic recovery plan at a police cadet graduation made possible as a result of the recently passed $787 billion stimulus package.

"We've got big challenges ahead of us," Obama said at the ceremony for 25 new Columbus, Ohio police officers.

But the stimulus plan would facilitate an economic recovery, he said, in part by helping support workers in law enforcement, teaching and other public sector professions.

Watch: The politics behind the unemployment figures

"Because of this plan, stories like the one we're celebrating here in Columbus will soon take place all across this nation," the president said as he announced the distribution of $2 billion in new law enforcement grants from the stimulus package.

The graduating cadets were informed at the end of January that they would be laid off because of a shortfall in the city's budget, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman said.

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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) - The U.S. Conference of Mayors said Monday in a letter to President Barack Obama it's concerned that several Republican governors have said they plan to turn down a portion of what's offered in the $787 billion stimulus package.

"Mayors know, better than anyone, that there are families suffering because of the recession in every state of this great nation," said the letter, signed by Manny Diaz, mayor of Miami and president of the group.

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President Obama sent an e-mail to his online backers thanking them for their support of his stimulus plan.

(CNN) – President Obama sent an e-mail to his online backers thanking them for their pushing for his stimulus plan, his first e-mail to supporters since his inauguration.

”You organized thousands of house meetings. You shared your ideas and personal stories. And you informed your friends and neighbors about the need for immediate action. You continue to be a powerful voice for change throughout the country,” the president wrote in the e-mail to his internet followers. “This is a historic step - the first of many as we work together to climb out of this crisis - and I want to thank you for your resolve and your support.”

Organizing for America — now an arm of the Democratic National Committee — called on the president’s supporters to hold house parties and distribute state-by-state aid breakdowns earlier this month to help boost public support for the plan as Congress weighed the package.

The president also highlighted Recovery.gov, his new website aimed at tracking dollars spent and jobs created by the bill. Visitors to the site are able to weigh in with comments and questions regarding the allocation of funds distributed by the bill, and submit their own economic hardship stories.

Obama will sign the stimulus bill into law Tuesday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - President Obama on Tuesday will sign the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. But he's far from being able to declare "Mission Accomplished."

Even though debate over the legislation was fraught with partisan fighting and what some characterize as strategic missteps by the nascent administration, getting the law passed was the easy part.

Far more difficult will be gauging whether the legislation's trademark initiatives - which include improving physical infrastructure, investing in energy projects and providing financial relief for families by way of tax cuts and increased government benefits - are really doing the trick.

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Brown is flying back from Ohio for tonight’s vote.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate will start its vote on whether to approve the economic stimulus bill at 5:30 pm, but the vote will kept open until 10:30 pm because Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is home in Ohio attending his mother’s wake, and is not expected to return to the Capitol until late this evening.

Democrats need 60 votes to pass the bill, and Brown’s vote is expected to be the 60th.

Brown will be flown back to Washington on a government plane. The plane is provided by the White House, Brown’s office said, because the vote is “official business” and there are not commercial flights available that would allow him cast his vote and then return to Ohio for his mother’s funeral Saturday morning. He will fly back to Ohio immediately after he votes.

The vote that will start at 5:30 pm is technically a procedural vote to allow stimulus spending to exceed budget rules. But by unanimous consent, senators agreed to have the vote also count as the final passage of the bill, so there will not be a final roll call vote on the bill itself.

UPDATE: CNN Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry reports that a White House official refused to provide a cost estimate for the military plane, but acknowledged “it will be a higher cost than if he were flying commercial.”

The official said it is a “small government plane” and the White House decided it was necessary because of the lack of commercial flights this evening, and the difficulty of getting Brown back to Ohio in time for an early burial Saturday morning.

“Taking immediate action to save or create 3.5 million jobs and get America’s economy moving again is a top priority for Ohio and the nation,” said the White House official. “Given that no commercial flights were available that would allow Senator Brown to make the vote and to attend services memorializing his mother, the administration provided government transportation to ensure that he could do so.”

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – In a 246 to 183 vote largely along party lines, the House of Representatives on Friday passed a $787.2 billion economic recovery package that was drawn up, amended and negotiated in record time.

No Republicans voted for the bill, while seven Democrats voted against it. When the House voted on its own version of a stimulus bill a few weeks ago, no Republicans voted for that measure and 11 Democrats had also voted against it.

The Senate is expected to vote on the measure Friday evening. It, too, is expected to pass the bill, but with no more than three Republicans supporting it.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – Despite direct lobbying by members of President Obama's administration in the last couple of weeks, many moderate House Republicans are still firmly opposed to the measure.

Before the House vote last month, 11 House Republicans attended a meeting at the White House with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to discuss their possible support. None of those members voted for the bill then, and CNN has learned that most do not intend to support the latest version either.

Pennsylvania Republican Jim Gerlach said he got calls from two Cabinet secretaries on Thursday –- HUD Secretary Sean Donovan and Transportation Secretary Secretary Ray LaHood – - but said the bill didn’t include the “fundamental change I think is needed.”

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – House Democratic leaders were forced to put off until Friday a vote on the Presidents economic stimulus bill, after many rank and file Democrats unhappy with some of the spending cuts, demanded time to read the measure. As of 1:00 pm Thursday the text of legislation spelling out the details of the House-Senate compromise had not been completed. Despite the delay, multiple sources, said the bill was not in jeopardy.

The decision to put off the House vote was made following a Thursday morning closed door House Democratic meeting, the second meeting in less than 24 hours to discuss the $789 billion bill.

Many lawmakers left Thursday’s meeting expressing resignation that there is not much they can do to change the spending measure, which they feel does not go far enough to solve the current economic troubles.

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Pelosi and Reid are discussing the stimulus compromise.

WASHINGTON (CNN) –Despite talk of a deal, the stimulus saga isn't over - a deal has not been reached. CNN can confirm that Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office at this hour, trying to persuade her to agree.

Senate Democratic leadership aides say the holdup concerns the addition of $10 billion for school construction/modernization. In the Senate version, $10 billion was added to the $44 billion allocated toward 'state stabilization' to help school infrastructure.

But aides say House members would rather this $10 billion in funding go through Title I, which would assign the funds based on need, as opposed to giving the money to governors through the state stabilization vehicle.

Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, says that a meeting is currently underway in the Speaker's office with House Democratic leadership, Senate representatives and White House representatives.

"We're moving very rapidly to making an announcement on a deal," said Elshami.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) – A day after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said it would be a few weeks before he unveils a solution for the housing crisis, regulators and lawmakers pressed financial institutions to suspend foreclosures until the plan comes out.

Geithner, who laid out a broad overview of the Obama's administration's plan to attack the financial meltdown, said Tuesday that the federal government would commit $50 billion to preventing foreclosures by reducing monthly payments. Details would be forthcoming, he said.

Until that loan modification plan is released, foreclosures should be halted, some say.

"I would ask all of you now to please make sure that we have a moratorium in effect," Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., told top bank executives at a hearing Wednesday. "It would be until we get that program, and until you know if people can qualify. Having someone suffer foreclosure because two weeks hadn't gone by for this program would be unacceptable."

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Collins and Lieberman are among those negotiating the latest version of the stimulus bill.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The size of the final stimulus bill, still being worked on at this hour, has dipped to about $789 billion, according to several senators involved in negotiations and other Democratic sources.

That figure is lower than either the House or Senate bills - though Democrat Ben Nelson warned CNN Wednesday that number could change as discussions continue.

Nelson, Susan Collins and other centrist senators spoke as they returned to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office to continue ongoing talks with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Budget Director Peter Orszag.

Collins and others continue to say they're narrowing their differences, and remain optomistic they can reach agreement today.

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Florida’s troubled real estate market has been one symptom of the state’s economic woes.

(CNN) – When Air Force One touches down in Fort Myers, Florida, Tuesday morning, the weather will be different than northern Indiana. Little else will be.

President Barack Obama won't see anyone in earmuffs at the airport or remnants of dirty snow along the motorcade route to the town hall meeting. But like their rust belt compatriots in Elkhart, residents in Lee County are among the hardest hit by the economic downturn.

Fort Myers restaurant manager Debbie Kendall sees it every day.

"People are very nervous," she said of her customers. "Maybe even scared. Everything is so up in the air."

The cold, hard numbers: Unemployment in the Gulf Coast community was 2.3 percent at this time in 2006. By last winter, it was 6 percent. The latest numbers put the jobless rate in Lee County at 10 percent. That translates to 28,396 people looking for work.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The amended economic recovery bill that the Senate is expected to pass on Tuesday would increase the deficit by $838 billion over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office estimated on Monday.

That is less than the $885 billion the CBO estimated the original Senate bill would cost last week. But it's still larger than the roughly $820 billion stimulus bill passed by the House two weeks ago.

Republicans and some Democrats criticized the size of the original Senate package.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., led a small, bipartisan group of senators last week to reduce the price tag by roughly $100 billion.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Obama administration's $827 billion economic stimulus plan has survived a key vote in the Senate, putting a compromise version of the bill on track for passage Tuesday.

Gov. Charlie Crist was one of 19 governors, including four Republicans, to release a joint letter publicly urging Congress to to pass the president’s stimulus package.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will introduce President Obama tomorrow at a Florida town hall meeting plugging the stimulus plan.

Crist was one of 19 governors, including four Republicans, to release a joint letter publicly urging Congress to to pass the president’s stimulus package — a move that earned him an appreciative phone call from Obama.

The Florida governor has said he wants to help Obama push for the measure. The bill is currently being considered by the Senate after failing to draw GOP support in the House.

“Florida has taken prudent steps to cut taxes for our people and balance our budget in these increasingly difficult times,” Crist said in a statement released by the White House Monday. “Any attempts at federal stimulus must prioritize job creation and targeted tax relief for small business owners. I am eager to welcome President Obama to the Sunshine State as he continues to work hard to reignite the US economy.”

Tuesday’s event in Fort Myers — the second of Obama’s stimulus town halls — will be held the same day the administration is slated to announce its economic recovery plan.

The poll's release comes the same day President Obama heads out on the road to Elkhart, Indiana, to help promote his plan to jump-start the economy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A new national poll suggests that three out of four Americans approve of the job Barack Obama's doing as President - but the economic stimulus package he's trying to push through Congress is not nearly as popular.

Seventy-six percent of those quesioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday give President Obama a thumbs-up when it comes to the way he's performing his duties, with 23 percent disapproving of the way Obama's handling his job as president.

The poll's release comes the same day President Obama heads out on the road to Elkhart, Indiana, to help promote his plan to jump-start the economy, and holds a prime time news conference from the White House to pitch the plan.

While the President puts on a full court press, the debate over the more than $800 billion bill, which includes increased government spending and tax cuts, appears to have split the public. A slight majority, 54 percent, favor the bill, with 45 percent opposed.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - After spending his first days in the White House wining and dining the opposition — literally — President Obama took a tougher tone Wednesday, reprising some of his harshest trail rhetoric over criticism of his stimulus plan as its Senate fate remains in doubt.

“In the last few days, we've seen proposals arise from some in Congress that you may not have read, but you'd be very familiar with, because you've been hearing them for the last 10 years, maybe longer,” he said in comments delivered at the Department of Energy. “They're rooted in the idea that tax cuts alone can solve all our problems, that government doesn't have a role to play, that half- measures and tinkering are somehow enough, that we can afford to ignore our most fundamental economic challenges: the crushing cost of health care, the inadequate state of so many of our schools, our dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

“So let me be clear: Those ideas have been tested, and they have failed. They've taken us from surpluses to an annual deficit of over $1 trillion. And they've brought our economy to a halt. And that's precisely what the election we just had was all about. The American people have rendered their judgment, and now's the time to move forward, not back. Now's the time for action.”

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that the president was increasingly unhappy with the holdup. "He said the time to talk is over," Gibbs told reporters. "I think it’s fair to read impatience into that."

Obama has told lawmakers he expects the stimulus to pass this week.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Obama is privately telling senators in both parties he is confident his economic recovery plan will pass in the Senate by the end of the week, according to two senior administration officials and two congressional officials.

"We will have the votes," said a senior administration official.

In a closed-door meeting Wednesday, the president said that he was "cautiously optimistic" that he could round up at least 60 votes to cut off a possible filibuster, a Senate official added.

The fate of the package has been in some doubt as the president ran into opposition from moderate Democrats and Republicans in the Senate who are concerned about spending projects in the package.

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New radio ads to target Republicans on stimulus vote.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – House Democrats will begin running a series of radio ads Tuesday targeting 28 Republicans who voted against President Obama’s economic recovery plan.

It is the latest political ad campaign launched in the past week directly related to the stimulus bill. The weeklong radio campaign coincides with a more direct voter contact approach designed to reach three million people through email and another 100,000 by telephone, according to an official with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

One of the ads accuses Republicans of helping to bail out banks, while another highlights support for rebuilding schools in Iraq, and then casting a vote against the stimulus package. The Republican congressmen are mentioned by name in the ads that run in their districts.

Not one Republican supported the bill when it came up for a vote in the House, because they argued it was flawed by among other things, wasteful spending. But it still passed, because of the Democratic Party's strong majority in that chamber. The Senate begins debate on it Monday.

Full list of Republican's targeted after the jump

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OFA is urging supporters to host stimulus-related house parties next weekend.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Obama camp is calling the president’s supporters into action behind his agenda for the first time since his inauguration.

Organizing for America — the former campaign apparatus that is now a two-week-old arm of the Democratic National Committee — is sending an e-mail to anyone who was involved with an Obama house party during the campaign season, asking them to host similar gatherings next weekend to push for the president’s economic stimulus plan. That package, which passed the House this week without Republican support, is currently being considered by the Senate.

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