Just In: U.S. Senate passes stimulus plan

The vote was 61-37. (New Hampshire and Minnesota are each missing a Senator, otherwise the tally would have added up to one hundred).

The vote was strictly along party lines except for three Northeast Republican senators who sided with the Democrats (Maine's Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter).

That means senators from the greater Pacific Northwest were also split along party lines. Democrats Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley, Jon Tester, Max Baucus, and Mark Begich voted "aye".

Republicans Jim Risch, Lisa Murkowski, and Mark Crapo voted "nay".

The stimulus plan (H.R. 1) now heads to conference committee, where the House and Senate will (hopefully) reconcile their differences. Each chamber will then have to pass the revised legislation for it to make it to President Obama's desk.

UPDATE: Senator Maria Cantwell on the passage of H.R. 1:

More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced this year, and in Washington State, the unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 7.1 percent. We still have a long way to go to get our economy back on track. However, with this federal support, Washington State will be able to make investments in infrastructure projects and improvements, create jobs, provide training and education, provide the neediest among us with health care, and invest in areas critical to the development of clean, renewable energy technologies.

Cantwell's office estimates that the stimulus will create or save 79,700 jobs over the next two years across the Evergreen State. Additionally, an estimated $1.8 billion could be used for clean up at Hanford.