Lawmakers from both parties have resolved to take up the challenge, but their agreement might end there. Democrats yesterday reiterated their intention to push for more modest tax cuts that favor lower-income workers. Republicans welcomed Bush's plan even as they talked of expanding it.
Bush's proposal would cut income tax rates by 2006. Five tax brackets now exist: 15 percent, 28 percent, 31 percent, 36 percent and 39.6 percent. He would replace them with four lower brackets: 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent.
The plan also would double the $500 child-tax credit by 2006, gradually repeal the estate tax, reduce the so-called marriage penalty, and let many taxpayers who do not itemize deduct charitable contributions.
Republicans want to speed up the cuts to make them retroactive to Jan. 1, a proposal Bush has said he would support. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said such action would cost an additional $200 billion.
"We need tax relief now," the President said. "In fact, we need tax relief yesterday."
Bush has called the amount of his proposed cuts - the centerpiece of his presidential campaign - "just right." Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill, who delivered the proposal to Congress yesterday, said Bush was "very firm" that the size of the plan should not change.
Lawmakers of both parties have other ideas.
"Virtually every Democrat in Washington supports a tax cut for the American people," said House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D., Mo.). "But the plan the President has offered today is too big, too risky, and too unfair for working families.. . .
"I look forward to working with this President on a budget that makes sense for every American, not just the top 1 percent, who would gain the most from this unwise, unwise proposal."
