Moderate Democrats could hold the key to breaking a partisan stalemate that has so far prevented Congress from passing an economic stimulus package.
President Bush and congressional Republicans talked Monday with several moderates, including Democratic Sen. John Breaux of Louisiana, to gauge whether enough Senate votes exist to push through a last-ditch effort at compromise.
House GOP leaders, Breaux said, don't want "to do something they don't think can pass the Senate. I would just hope there has to be a way we can reach an agreement."
With Congress itching to leave town for the year, the House was considering whether to move ahead with a new package likely to combine GOP tax cuts for individuals and businesses with the Democrats' 13-week extension of unemployment benefits and a tax credit to help jobless people buy health insurance.
Republicans say significant support from Democratic centrists could increase pressure on Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to schedule a vote. Daschle and the three other top congressional leaders planned to meet Tuesday with Bush at the White House to discuss the remaining Capitol Hill agenda.
An earlier $100 million House GOP package consisting mostly of tax cuts was never put to a vote in the Senate and a Democratic bill heavier on government spending was blocked by Republicans.
Putting a second economic stimulus bill on the House floor would also give Republicans a chance to vote for more generous unemployment benefits than those in the measure passed in October. Democrats have repeatedly criticized that bill as a tax giveaway to wealthy individuals and multinational corporations and said the GOP was ignoring the plight of the unemployed.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush "has talked extensively" in recent days to Senate moderates, including Breaux, in hopes of patching together sufficient support for Congress to pass a compromise bill.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said the main obstacle was Democratic insistence that increased health insurance assistance be based on existing COBRA coverage available to some, but not all, laid-off workers. Republicans want a tax credit that would be available upfront to the unemployed and could be used to help pay for a wider range of health plans.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, however, said the GOP proposal would be "chaotic" and would be difficult to put in place in time to help unemployed people. Baucus said Democrats had come a long way in supporting GOP income tax cuts.
"It gives Democrats heartburn, ulcers. And they are willing to take the ulcers and the heartburn if they get the benefits," said Baucus, D-Mont.
Details of a second House bill were still being worked out Monday. Several sources said key parts would resemble a proposal floated by Bush last week that was endorsed by Breaux and other Democratic centrists.
That measure included a new round of rebate checks aimed at lower-income workers and would cut the 27 percent income tax rate to 25 percent in 2002 rather than phasing the reduction in over several years. There are also tax breaks for large and small businesses, including 30 percent immediate depreciation write-offs over the next three years.