Senate passes recovery bill.

After overcoming a procedural hurdle yesterday, the Senate approved the recovery bill 61–37 today, as amended by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) recused himself, and Minnesota still has only one senator.

Announcing the “good news” to the town hall audience in Florida, President Obama explained why the Senate finally passed the bill today: “Because they knew I was coming down to Ft. Myers. They didn’t want to mess with people in Ft. Myers. They said, we don’t want folks in Ft. Myers mad at us!”