White House 'tweaking' tax cut proposal

From Major Garrett
CNN White House correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House is encouraging the Senate to speed up the president's tax cut but not if it means increasing the overall size of the 10-year plan beyond $1.6 trillion, senior administration officials tell CNN.

DOCUMENT President Bush's tax proposal Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.     RESOURCE Whitehouse.gov: President Bush's budget blueprint     INTERACTIVE How will Bush's proposal affect your tax bracket? Compare: 2001 budget vs. Bush's proposed 2002 budget     IN-DEPTH CNNfn: Tax Time     MESSAGE BOARD Taxing and spending

"There's been an ongoing discussion about how you tweak this thing considering the current economic conditions," a senior adminstration official said. "If we didn't do that we wouldn't be doing our jobs. It's not about making it bigger but how do you get money in pockets quicker."

Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil has encouraged Senate moderates in both parties to explore accelerating the tax cut in the first year to increase the economic stimulus. Within the administration, Larry Lindsey, chairman of the National Economic Council, has argued for a larger tax package. But President Bush wants to keep the package at $1.6 trillion over 10 years but will encourage Congress to make changes it deems necessary to increase the tax cuts stimulative effect, the senior official said.

"Until the president says it's something bigger the number is $1.6 trillion," the official said.

Officials acknowledged, however, that moving up the phased-in nature of the president's tax cuts could increase fears about eating into projected surpluses and require scaling the tax cuts back in later years. Overall, the administration is content to stay where it is as it marvels at the whipsaw nature of the tax debate.

"One day we're criticized for a reckless tax cut that will bring back deficits and two days later we're criticized for a tax cut that doesn't do enough to stimulate economic growth," the senior official said. "At times like that, we feel like we're in the right place."

Democrats say Bush's comments helped bring downturn
March 15, 2001
Conservatives point to market, call for more tax cuts
March 13, 2001
Poll: Majority of Americans pleased with House tax cut vote
March 12, 2001

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