Washington — It looks as if cash-strapped colleges will have to wait at least until January to get any help from Congress.

Colleges had hoped that lawmakers would include money for research, campus infrastructure, and student aid in a second economic-stimulus bill that Congress was scheduled to take up this week. They got a glimmer of hope on Monday, when Senate Democrats introduced a $100-billion bill containing $1-billion for the National Institutes of Health, $175-million for the Energy Department’s Office of Science, and $2.5-billion for school repair and construction (although it was unclear whether any of that money would have gone to public colleges).

But Democratic leaders knew Republicans would never support such a costly bill, and today they brought a sharply scaled-back version to the floor for a vote. The $6-billion bill, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed in October, would extend unemployment benefits for people who had exhausted them. The bill passed the Senate amid reports that jobless claims had reached a 16-year high and the number of unemployed Americans had topped 10 million. President Bush, who had threatened to veto the broader bill, is expected to sign the more modest measure.

Democratic leaders have said they may return to Washington in mid-December to vote on a bailout bill for the auto industry if car makers present a plan to modernize their operations. But a broader stimulus bill will probably wait until after President-elect Barack Obama takes office, on January 20. —Kelly Field