White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel joined a meeting with Senate Democrats on Friday evening, when the fate of the stimulus package remained unclear.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) at about 5:15 p.m. called for a recess to meet with the Senate Democratic conference for at least 45 minutes. The Democratic senators then entered a room just off the Senate’s Ohio Clock corridor, followed by Emanuel. He didn’t respond to reporters’ questions.
Emanuel’s boss, President Obama, is pressing the Senate to get him a stimulus bill that aims to jolt the economy as soon as possible. But a vote in the Senate on the approximately $900 billion package has yet to be scheduled. Lawmakers had planned vote on the bill before the weekend.
Emanuel reportedly met earlier on Friday with a group of centrist senators who are working on a deal that would cut spending in the bill.