WASHINGTON - Although Democrats and Republicans continue to feud over the best way to jump-start the economy, a top Democratic senator predicts that an economic stimulus bill will pass Congress by the end of the coming week because the stakes are too high to let it fail.

Still as Tuesday's Senate vote gets closer, the political divide is deeper than ever.

"If you don't get a trillion dollars right, you've made a massive mistake you may not be able to recover from," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

"Millions of additional Americans will lose their jobs if we fail to act and act effectively," said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

The $827 billion Senate bill is more expensive than the House version, containing more than $300 billion in tax cuts and nearly $500 billion in spending, including $39 billion for clean energy, $27 billion for highway construction and $88 billion for education.

"Public spending for improved infrastructure, to keep bridges from crumbling, keep cops and firefighters working, that's a good thing," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

"It has that ripple effect; If you get construction going, then construction workers are working and buying the things they need and they're buying houses and pickup trucks and all these things," said Politico Congressional Editor Tim Grieve.

Democrats say the stimulus will create three to four million jobs, but Republicans warn of a trillion dollar debt, and that tax cuts are the better way to go.

"If you've got a government contract that is a fixed period of time, it goes away. The work may go away. There's no guarantee there's going to be more work when you're done in that job," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steel said.

Most agree the bill will pass in the Senate, but the House-Senate conference vote could be a toss-up.

"We're going to try to take the best ideas in both, listen to what the economists have to say, and make the best decisions as to what will boost the economy," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. 

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York says there are only minor differences in the House and Senate versions of the economic stimulus package and that Democrats in the House and Senate and the three Republican senators supporting the effort all understand the need for a bill. He says the value of the bill after a compromise is reached would remain around $820 billion.

Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby says he remains opposed to the stimulus measure. Shelby says the economy's biggest need is to straighten out the banking system, and until that's done, the economy is going to continue to struggle.

The lawmakers appeared Sunday on CNN's show "State of the Union."

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