President Bush and congressional leaders agree the U.S. economy needs a shot in the arm to help it recover from the Sept. 11 hijack attacks, but are far from agreement on what to prescribe. 
Lawmakers on Thursday began pushing their ideas for economic stimulus after Bush announced on Wednesday he wants a package of about $60 billion to $75 billion. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has also given his blessing for such a plan. 
Republicans lean toward tax cuts aimed at spurring business investment, while Democrats say the plan should include spending measures as well as tax cuts for businesses and consumers. 
"Our hope is that we can find the proper balance between spending and tax cuts and that within tax cuts, that we find the proper balance between investment incentives or commitments to expenditures," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, told reporters. 
He mentioned the expensing of business equipment purchases and measures to encourage consumer spending. 
Budget writers in the House of Representatives and Senate, Republicans and Democrats, on Thursday urged a stimulus package of at least $60 billion even though it would mean a return to budget deficits. But they said it should expire after one year and that the cost to the federal treasury should be made up over time, once the economy recovers, to protect the Social Security retirement system. 
"We may go into the red for a while, but it will only be long enough to get us out of this economic crisis," said Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. 
Bush wants to help businesses and to target tax relief to boost consumer spending, which drives nearly two-thirds of the U.S. economic activity. The White House said another round of tax rebates similar to the check mailings this year is an option. 
A group of House Republicans urged fellow lawmakers to concentrate the package on tax measures that would "retain or create more jobs for Americans." 
Specifically they said they wanted to accelerate individual rate cuts called for in the $1.3 trillion 10-year tax cut Bush has signed into law, allow businesses to write off purchases of computers and other equipment faster, provide relief from the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT), which companies say discourages investment in a slow economy, and lower the tax on gains from the sale of stock and other assets. 
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said tax writers were considering accelerating rate reductions that were part of the Bush tax plan. 
"Everything is on the table," he told reporters after meeting with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Senate and House tax writers. 
Baucus and Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, have said they prefer a temporary package of a few items for business and consumers that would give the biggest economic kick for the money. 
The package is likely to include some breaks for businesses, including accelerated depreciation of equipment. It also could include AMT relief, a much cheaper alternative for the federal treasury than reducing the corporate income tax. 
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a Texas Republican, and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, have pushed for a capital gains tax cut, but Democrats see it as a tax cut for the rich and it appears to be off the table. 
A group of liberal House Democrats urged a $200 billion package that would include expansion of unemployment benefits and federal aid to help unemployed workers with health care insurance costs. The group also called for more spending on public works projects and a rebate for poor taxpayers. 
Democrats have been urging relief for low-wage earners who may not have benefited from the $38 billion income tax rebates this year because they do not earn enough to pay income taxes. 
Democrats lean toward a rebate or tax credit against payroll taxes, which finance Social Security. Senate Republican leaders have said they could support an outright reduction in the tax. Employers and employees would benefit as each pays half of it, but such a move would have implications for Social Security finances.