Here's the latest. About $150 billion was trimmed from the recovery bill, and Harry Reid is reportedly saying he has a deal to pass it in the Senate. He's also seems to have asked Senator Snowe to trim more from the tax cut side.
Speaker Pelosi isn't happy with the spending reductions, but it'll be very difficult for the Democrats to shoehorn some of the spending back into the bill in the conference committee.
Here's the thing, if they had to reduce so-called "objectionable" spending (food stamps and school construction -- objectionable!) they should've replaced it with, well, less objectionable spending -- keeping the overall price tag the same or higher, but with more refined content. But instead, it seems like they've simply reduced the dollar amount even though we absolutely need more spending.
And therein is what you get when blue dog Democrats and centrist Republicans get their hands on important things: The middle way is no way at all.