As a result, a lengthy, high-volume political clash is likely to extend through this year and next and into the Presidential race in 2000, encompassing not just the size and composition of any tax cuts but also the very nature of the tax system.
The size and composition of the tax legislation, however, will be the subject of a protracted struggle.
The Democrats are still working on the composition of the tax cut from an array of ideas.
But they and the Democrats remain far apart, on both the overall size and the composition of a tax agreement.
Reasonable people can disagree about the composition of this tax cut, but the need for stimulus is beyond question when an economy slides.
For credibility, what matters is the nature and the composition of the tax and spending measures, and the clarity of the phase-in schedule.
And depending on the size and composition of the tax cut, he said, it could strain the ability of the Senate, which is divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, to maintain any semblance of bipartisanship.
The composition of the tax cut is still very much up in the air as well, with Democrats intent on directing its benefits more to lower- and middle-income people than the Bush plan would.
Mr. Bush no doubt agrees; he hopes that the American people won't look too closely either at the composition of the tax salami or at how he proposes to slice it.
