Sen. Arlen Specter knows the political risks of voting for a bill that goes against party philosophy.

His support of the 2009 economic stimulus bill, along with that of two fellow Republican senators — Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine — was a vote he has called "politically perilous." Yet he said it was an attempt to save the economy.

Speaking in a teleconference after attending the White House Fiscal Responsibility Summit on Monday, Specter said that, with "all of the predictions being that we face the prospect of a 1929 depression, the bread lines and the massive unemployment," he believes he made the correct vote, even though the effects of the measure may not be seen immediately.

"You can't look for a rapid recovery to prove that the (economic stimulus) plan is right," Specter said. "The real question is what would have happened had we not done this. And there I think people understand that the disastrous potential was there."

President Barack Obama's comments during the economic summit addressed the need to tackle big problems early in his administration, Specter said, such as cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term. Obama's words came a week after the passage of one of the largest spending bills in history.

Several breakout sessions were held at Monday's summit, focusing on Social Security, tax reform, the budget process and procurement.

Specter was part of the health care group, along with Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).

The health care session dealt with ways to keep Medicare solvent; the introduction of the HITECH Act, which proposes to computerize all medical records by 2014; and investments in preventive medicine.

Specter's suggestions focused on saving Medicare money via living wills, which could shorten the amount of time people stay on life support and continue to amass health care bills. He cited a study showing that 27 percent of health care costs are incurred in the last few months of life.

Specter said he made an effort to get word to Social Security recipients about the option of living wills. He said there have been suggestions to reduce Medicare Part D medical payments for people who execute living wills or to require people to have a living will before they can receive Medicare payments.

"I think it's fair to ask people to have living wills so that if those costs can be curtailed, it's something worth doing," Specter said.

Specter also recommended tough prosecution of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, saying that the threat of imprisonment, as opposed to fines, would be a deterrent to "white-collar crimes."

Going back to the economic stimulus bill, Specter said he believed the final bill should have included more tax cuts than spending.

Specter said the inefficiency of the government has been shown during the economic crisis, especially with former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's action to buy "toxic debt," which still hasn't broken the freeze on credit, and current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's lack of action.

"The government is so ineffective at carrying out these plans that if people have the money themselves, it has a better chance of getting into the economy," Specter said.

Although Specter ultimately voted for the Stimulus Bill, he said it will be important in the future to have bills that can be studied and cross-examined rather than being ramrodded through Congress — like the stimulus bill and former President Bush's bank bailout bill.

"I think Obama really wants bipartisanship, but it's got to be more than coming over and speaking to the Republicans or inviting Republicans to the White House," Specter said. "It has to be in the formulation of the legislation."

E-mail: myoder@lnpnews.com