Bush Wants to Go Easy on the Stimulus Juice

President Bush says it's important to resist any stampede on Capitol Hill to hastily enact another economic growth package. Bush is concerned that congressional proposals for heightened federal intervention might help some homeowners temporarily with a form of bailout or by abrogation of existing mortgages but would artificially inflate housing prices over the long term. "There are some things we should not do that would exacerbate the problem," a senior Bush adviser says.

Meantime, Bush argues that it's best to give the already passed stimulus package a chance to work. Beyond that, Bush advocates basic proposals he has been pushing for years, such as making his first-term tax cuts permanent. "The most important thing we can do on the economy is remove the prospect of tax hikes in 2010," says the Bush adviser.