News Analysis: Bush Faces Quandaries of Economy and Energy Under the proposal he sent to Congress just a few weeks ago, there was no tax cut for the current year at all, a fact that seemed to undercut the president's repeated claim that the combination of the Fed's rate cuts and his own tax plan would pull the country out of what appears to be a cyclical downturn. Even the cut passed by the House earlier this month � and heartily endorsed by the White House � provides only $5.6 billion in tax relief this year. In a $10 trillion economy, that is, in the words of Robert Litan, an economist at the Brookings Institution, "something so tiny that you won't even notice it." On that point, Democrats and Republicans seem to agree. But each side is using that fact to bolster the case for substantial change in Mr. Bush's plan. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/21/politics/21ASSE.html?pagewanted=all