Daschle says Congress can meet Bush's Nov. 30 deadline for economic stimulus package

By CURT ANDERSON
AP Tax Writer

WASHINGTON – Congress should meet President Bush's demand for an economic stimulus package by Nov. 30, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle says. Bush said Friday that newly released jobless figures underscore the need for haste.

Congress and the White House "need to work together to extend and expand unemployment benefits to those whose lives have been affected by the attacks," Bush told reporters. "And we need to work together to prevent further loss of jobs by passing an economic stimulus package that, in fact, will cause the job base to firm up and expand."

Bush's remarks at the White House followed the release Friday of unemployment figures showing the jobless rate soared to 5.4 percent in October, the biggest one-month jump in more than 21 years and further evidence of the economy's stall following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Bush said the $100 billion House-passed plan has some good ingredients but that he and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill "stand ready" to work with lawmakers on a final product.

"I urge the Senate to act quickly to pass a bill ... to show the nation that we can in fact deal with the aftermath of this tragedy."

Despite the president's urgings, it remains unclear how Democrats and Republicans will resolve their differences.

Daschle, D-S.D., said Thursday the final plan must include greater aid to the unemployed, including health insurance, and about $20 billion in spending for homeland security, rather than the emphasis by Bush and the Republicans on tax cuts.

"We're going to move as expeditiously as we possibly can, but I think we've got to do the right thing," Daschle said.

Republicans raised their level of rhetoric after Bush's demand for action by the end of the month.

Rep. Bill Thomas, chief architect of a House-passed $100 billion stimulus plan comprised mainly of tax cuts, said Daschle was to blame if businesses and workers continued to suffer in the moribund post-Sept. 11 economy.

"Every day that someone is in pain is laid at the foot of Tom Daschle," said Thomas, R-Calif., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "He wanted the job. He has the job. And now his job is to produce a product."

On the Senate floor, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Daschle had unfairly "harshly attacked" a stimulus measure he drafted that closely tracks Bush's proposals. "Democrats have turned up the partisan heat and are trying to torch any real plan that will help our economy and our country," said Grassley.

Daschle did not immediately respond to the criticism. Earlier, he noted that the Senate Finance Committee intends Tuesday to begin considering a $70 billion plan by the chairman, Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. The plan is divided evenly between tax cuts for individuals and business and assistance for the jobless.

"I'm very hopeful that we could be on the floor with this debate as early as next week," Daschle said.

Republican Finance Committee aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some GOP lawmakers were willing to increase Bush's proposal for $3 billion in grants to states for the unemployed to as much as $10 billion to address Democratic concerns about health insurance.

Thomas predicted Congress eventually would pass a repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax, as Bush wants. Thomas also defended the most contested piece of the House-passed plan – one that refunds some $25 billion in AMT credits to 17,500 corporations – as a way to free up capital for investment, hiring and stock dividends.

"That's not a bad stimulus," Thomas said.

AP-WS-11-02-01 1104EST