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“Well, of course I am,” Mr. Specter said when asked if he’s worried about the conservative backlash. “But (President) John Kennedy had it right. He said, ‘Sometimes the party asks too much.’ And this is something I think is necessary for the country. It goes beyond politics. It goes beyond the Democratic or Republican position. It’s the right thing for America.”

Mr. Specter said he would have supported the package even if Democrats had not added $6.5 billion in additional money for the National Institutes of Health to the final version of the bill.

Mr. Specter had sought the money for years, and had mentioned that he wanted the money in the bill when he met with President Barack Obama last week.

“That’s only one small part ... That’s not determinative in my mind,” he said.

The stimulus vote could create “a political problem,” he said, but “I thought the public interest was so important that I have to take whatever problems it brings me.”

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