By Viviana Romero

The House of Representatives was divided when Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced with obvious glee that the $819 billion economic stimulus package had been approved.  There were smiles and cheers from the Democrats but only frowns and silence from the Republicans. 

With hopes and dreams of ending partisanship in the House, President Obama was met with more division than trying to mix oil and water. Not a single Republican voted in favor. After all, asking the House to churn out another $800 billion on top of the first $700 billion under the Bush administration was going to be a hard pitch to sell to the Republican minority. However, it passed.  The package is now on its course to be reviewed and voted on by the Senate in which a slight majority is held by the Democrats.

If the Senate is as divided as is the House of Representatives, Republicans will be making a bold statement to the American people saying that the economic stimulus package is not their idea and belongs completely to the Democrats and the President.

Despite hopes and dreams of ending partisanship and division in Washington, President Obama is following his political mantra of "yes we can" and continues to press on stating "we're all in this together". "What we can't do" he said "is to drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way."

However optimistic America's President is, one can predict that the Senate will mimic results from the House and once the bill is approved the question still looms over the heads of Republicans and Democrats alike : Will it work?