WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Wednesday that Congress has lost the ability to manage crucial long-term budget issues and new mechanisms are needed to keep future costs from ballooning beyond the nation's ability to pay.

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans are trying to determine how much of President Bush's proposed $726 billion economic package they can save after Democrats and GOP moderates said the tax cuts should be sliced in half.

LIMA, Ohio - President Bush swooped Thursday into the home state of a fellow Republican who refuses to go along with his drive for more than a half-trillion dollars in new tax cuts, deriding supporters of a "little bitty tax relief package."

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to take a nibble out of the tax cuts President Bush has proposed for prodding the economy, but Republicans seemed to have the votes to approve a budget endorsing most of the $726 billion in tax reductions he wants.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday demanded at least $550 billion in tax cuts over 10 years, a retreat from his original proposal of more than $700 billion that reflected congressional reluctance to run up bigger deficits in wartime.

WASHINGTON - President Bush told Congress on Friday that America’s vibrant free-market system was the key factor in allowing the country to deal with the shocks of a recession, terrorist attacks and corporate scandals. But he said a new round of $1.3 trillion in tax cuts would help lift economic growth to a higher level.

Democratic presidential candidates debating Saturday in Phoenix blasted President Bush as out of touch with working Americans and vowed to repeal his $330 billion tax cut.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - President Bush used new unemployment figures on Friday to promote his plan for at least $550 billion in tax cuts over 10 years at United Defense Industries in the recession-plagued Silicon Valley.

Dear Editor:

Dear Editor:

Just what is a "tax cut" or a "tax increase"? If we lower the income tax rate, as President G.W. Bush did, it is advertised as a "tax cut." Looking at the actual results, however, reveals that it indeed was a "tax increase."

WASHINGTON - The budget-cutting bill awaiting President Bush's signature may only make a small dent in the nation's huge deficit, but he is expected to propose more cuts in his 2007 plan, including farm subsidies, Medicaid and Medicare.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Friday ruled out raising taxes to pay the massive costs of Gulf Coast reconstruction, saying other government spending must be cut to pay for a recovery effort expected to swell the national debt by $200 billion or more.

October 14, 2004

WASHINGTON - Congress on Friday gave final approval to a sweeping tax cut bill, capping a tumultuous legislative journey that tested President Bush’s leadership, left Congress riven by partisan divisions and produced a measure that will reshape the government’s fiscal picture for years.

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed a bill on Wednesday that offers $330 billion in tax breaks to families, businesses and investors and $20 billion in state aid - a package less than half the size of the one he initially sought.

WASHINGTON - Putting aside efforts to control the federal deficit before the elections, Republican and Democratic leaders agreed Wednesday to extend $145.9 billion worth of tax cuts sought by President Bush without trying to pay for them.

WASHINGTON - Putting aside efforts to control the federal deficit before the elections, Republican and Democratic leaders agreed Wednesday to extend $145.9 billion worth of tax cuts sought by President Bush without trying to pay for them.

The House Budget Committee this past week rejected legislation that would have prevented future tax cuts unless they are “paid for” by spending cuts or increases in other taxes. If the proposal had passed, it would have made it almost impossible to extend or make permanent the modest tax cuts the administration pushed through Congress early in President Bush’s term.

It is an article of faith among Republicans that tax cuts are the cure for every problem the economy faces, and that tax increases are the equivalent of economic poison. Any hint by Democrats that the current administration's tax cuts should be revisited in light of changing economic or fiscal conditions is met with charges that they are proposing the largest tax increase in history.