What is almost gone from the stimulus discussion now is infrastructure. After months of talk of a new New Deal and putting people back to work with public works spending while, at the same time, building a new America, the focus of the stimulus bill has been shifted to tax breaks for home builders, new-car buyers and manufacturers, spending cuts for state governments, and a limit to executive bonus pay.

As the recovery plan was debated in Congress, the House and Senate had seemingly similar but, at the same time, different ideas on how stimulus money should fund transportation projects.

The Senate agreed on a scaled-down economic stimulus bill on Friday when three Republicans said they would back the reworked legislation.

President Barack Obama has brought change to Washington, D.C. In this newly declared post-partisan era of politics, there is growing bipartisan opposition to the President’s economic stimulus package.