Battle brews over benefits

When running for office, President Bush billed himself as a "compassionate conservative." By now, few ardent liberals accept that self-description.

The danger to Republicans is that the political middle will question this terminology. Many already have an impression that Mr. Bush shifts in the direction of helping the less fortunate only when pushed by political necessity.

One test of the president's compassion will come quickly.

The president asked last month that the new Congress take up the extension of unemployment benefits as its first order of business this week. To the dismay of liberal groups, Bush did not specify what type of extension - a skimpy one pushed through by the Republican leadership in the House or a more generous one passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate last fall.

Benefits for 780,000 unemployed workers and their families ran out Dec. 28 after the House and Senate failed to agree on an extension before Congress adjourned Nov. 22. Another 1 million have already used up their 13 weeks of extended benefits under the federal program. And a further 95,000 workers will exhaust their state benefits each coming week if Congress doesn't act.

"It is unconscionable that the president didn't exercise much leadership on this issue," says Wendell Primus, an expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington. "That's fairly heartless. It is ridiculous to shut off these benefits to those workers who have borne the brunt of the recession."

His big complaint is that the president didn't step into the House-Senate dispute to get an extension decision.

Another test of Bush sympathy for the "little guy" will come tomorrow in the details of his tax-cut package. Liberals wonder how many of the tax "goodies" will go to those with middle or lower incomes as opposed to the well-to-do and business.

In the 2001 tax cut, it was the Democrats who insisted on income tax cuts for lower-income Americans. But Bush took credit for the whole package.

Already the Bush administration, in putting final touches on a new "stimulus" package, has reportedly included several measures to help middle- income families. Among them are a faster increase in the child-care tax credit, and quicker relief of the so-called marriage penalty, which pushes two-income families into higher tax brackets. Such measures may soften criticisms from Democrats that the tax cuts are designed for the rich.

After a report last month that the administration was considering increasing the tax burden on low-income workers, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) of New York charged the administration with "a new low" that "would make only one person proud - Scrooge."

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