The two also said they understood why Democrats were not engaging the Republicans with a deficit-cutting plan of their own.

Their questions constitute the first comprehensive public critique of the deficit-cutting plan announced in April.

Congressional opponents, on the other hand, predicted that the deficit-cutting plan would produce nothing but another recession.

He did not return to the subject of his own deficit-cutting plans.

He passed a deficit-cutting plan that, paradoxically, became his most effective social program.

"I will do everything in my power to encourage Congress as it struggles to bring forth the most comprehensive and significant deficit-cutting plan ever."

With a deficit-cutting plan finally in place, the first question most taxpayers want answered is whether their own income taxes are going up or down.

The tax, part of the deficit-cutting plan passed by Congress, will add about $5 billion a year to the Treasury.

That figure, included as part of the Governor's deficit-cutting plan, is about three times what the arena managers said they had agreed to pay.

A bipartisan group that had been working on a major deficit-cutting plan in the Senate was trying again to produce a proposal.