"The president is confident that, in the end, this will become a bipartisan product," press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters. "He calls on Democrats to be open-minded about this as well."

Fleischer's comments after Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said that the plan approved last Friday by the House Ways and Means Committee, which is heavy on business tax cuts opposed by Democrats, was partly "show business."

"It's an opportunity for people to say, 'I voted for the things that you want' with the expectations that we will come out with a package that doesn't do violence to the long-term financial stability of the country," O'Neill said Monday during a visit to Memphis, Tenn.

Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, bristled at administration talk about his bill being too big. The difference is not in policy but the cost projections, which the White House gets from its economists and the Congress is required to get from the Joint Committee on Taxation, Thomas said after meeting with Bush on trade policy.

"When you reconcile the (president's) request with the way in which we have to determine how much they cost, there's virtually no difference between the two positions," Thomas said.

Treasury officials said O'Neill's statement was not intended to signal administration opposition the House plan, even though its cost far exceeds the $60 billion to $75 billion the president requested. Fleischer said Bush wants Democrats and Republicans to vote for the plan when it reaches the House floor Thursday.

"The package includes more than the president asked for, but that's not unusual in the Congress and the president is confident, in the end, this will all work out," Fleischer said. "If you're asking me, does he oppose it _ of course not."

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said O'Neill "quite rightly" pointed out that the $100 billion package "is larger in its overall size than it needs to be for stimulus and growth" because of various add-ons, many suggested by Democrats.

"We still ended up with a lot of things in the package that did not really have a growth impact on the economy," Armey said. "You can never keep politics totally out of any economic stimulus."

O'Neill planned to meet privately with Senate Republicans later Tuesday to discuss ways to stimulate an economy many analysts say is already in recession and has been further staggered by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The House GOP plan would enhance business tax write-offs for purchasing equipment, repeal the corporate alternative minimum tax and allow companies to deduct current operating losses against taxes paid five years earlier. It would effectively cut capital gains tax rates to 18 percent for most taxpayers and raise capital loss limits over the next two years.

The measure also would provide a new round of rebate checks of up to $600 for lower-income workers and cut the current 27 percent income tax rate to 25 percent in 2002, four years earlier than under the just-enacted 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut.

Democrats have said the package is too tilted toward business and threatens the long-term fiscal stability of the federal government.