Taxpayers would get checks under economic stimulus plan

Taxpayers would get checks under economic stimulus plan

American taxpayers would get checks of several hundred dollars from the government under a plan to stimulate the economy, sources said Thursday.

Congressional leaders of both parties were talking with their membership to sell the plan, sources said.

Sources on Capitol Hill and at the Treasury Department said congressional and White House

A Democratic aide and Republican aide said there will be an additional amount per child, which could be in the neighborhood of $300.

Checks could be in taxpayers' mailboxes by June, according to an Associated Press report.

The Treasury Department still must analyze the numbers to determine the price tag of the stimulus package, sources said.

To get to the agreement, Democrats dropped calls for increases in food stamps and an extension of unemployment compensation. Republicans agreed to allow people who pay Social Security taxes but not income taxes to get the checks, sources said.

An announcement on the plan could come Thursday afternoon, the two sources said.

Aides in both parties said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has been working aggressively in recent days as he tries to make progress before House Republicans head out of Washington for a legislative retreat at the end of the week.

To win over conservatives, the package also is slated to include business tax breaks, according to officials in both parties.

The stimulus package may face resistance from fiscal conservatives in both parties over worries that it would increase the federal debt. The talks are occurring as auditors report that the federal deficit -- the difference between what the government takes in and what it spends -- is increasing.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday the deficit would jump to $250 billion, mainly because of a weakening economy. That estimate does not include any additional spending that would be part of a stimulus package.

The proposal is intended to address economic worries stemming from a worldwide credit crunch created by the mortgage crisis and plunging stock markets. The president proposed the package last week. Watch a debate on whether the U.S. is heading into a recession

Officials in both parties credited Paulson, the former Goldman Sachs executive known for a shrewd grasp of the markets, with pushing the package aggressively.

"He's been on the phone with practically every member of Congress -- some of them a few times," one Senate Republican aide said. "He's not fooling around."