Washington — House and Senate negotiators reached agreement today on a $789-billion economic-stimulus bill, but details of what the compromise legislation includes for colleges, students, and researchers were unavailable Wednesday evening.

Higher-education lobbyists were scrambling to learn the final numbers, including how much money the legislation contained for college construction, a major difference between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The House legislation contained $7-billion for higher-education facilities, but senators cut spending for college construction from their measure entirely.

The two versions also included significantly different amounts for a “state fiscal-stabilization fund” that would give states money to distribute to public colleges and elementary and secondary schools to help buffer them from budget cuts. The Senate bill allocated $39-billion for that fund, while the House bill included $79-billion.

Several news sources were reporting that the compromise would provide $54-billion for the state fund, including $10-billion that could be used to modernize college and school facilities.

A Senate-passed provision to give $10-billion to the National Institutes of Health for biomedical research also appeared to be in the final version of the bill, according to