A Colorado congressman pinch-hit for an absent committee chairwoman this morning and helped Democrats beat back a Republican attempt to delay a vote on the $790 billion economic stimulus package.

Republicans are upset that the U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote today on The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, even though they have had less than 24 hours to read the specific details contained in a compromise measure hashed out by House and Senate negotiators.

To slow down the process, they tried to block passage of a procedural measure setting out the rules for the final debate – but the attempt failed on a series of party-line votes this morning.

The chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, Rep Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., was supposed to lead the effort to clear the Republican delays and advance the legislation to final consideration. But she had to rush back to her home state after the crash of a commuter plane near Buffalo.

That left Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden, a new member of the House Rules Committee, to defend the Democratic position that the urgency of the country's economic crisis calls for swift action.

"It has been discussed and debated over the past month in full view of the American people," Perlmutter said.

But Republicans said they didn't get to start reviewing some sections of the more than 1,000-page bill until after midnight, something Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., said undermined President Barack Obama's campaign pledges to bring transparency and accountability to federal government.

Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, called it "unconscionable" that lawmakers were being given "four to eight hours" instead of 48 hours to review the legislation, as was the goal of a nonbinding resolution that passed earlier.

House Republicans have been united in opposition to the stimulus legislation. No member of the GOP voted for passage of an earlier House version, and only three Republicans voted for the original version in the U.S. Senate.

Both chambers are expected to vote on the legislation today, meeting Obama's goal of being able to sign the legislation into law by Monday.

Perlmutter said Republican opponents were using procedural measures to deny and up or down vote.

"Those who oppose the bill can vote against it on final passage," Perlmutter said.

Earlier in the day, he argued that the bill was urgent for Colorado.

"We can't afford the status quo any more, ladies and gentlemen. We must act," Perlmutter said. "In Colorado we need this effort, we need these jobs, and so does the rest of the nation."

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, also joined the debate, calling the current economic situation a "rapid meltdown" that requires "swift and decisive action." The White House has estimated that the spending and tax cuts contained in the bill will create or save 59,000 jobs over the next two years in Colorado.

But Colorado's congressional delegation has been split along strict party lines, with five Democratic House members and two Democratic Senators in favor of the stimulus bill and the two Republican House members opposed.

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora, made a brief speech Friday saying that provisions of the legislation would roll back key parts of a 1996 welfare reform bill. And Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, has called the stimulus bill "primarily pork and not a real job creations bill."