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Thus Democratic opposition is focusing on Reagan's tax cuts, which even many of the conservatives fear will deepen inflationary deficits. Illinois Democrat Daniel Rostenkowski, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, went so far last week as to proclaim Reagan's tax program dead. He counseled the G.O.P. to cooperate in devising a compromise measure to reduce taxes less broadly and deeply, for one year only. That drew a threat from Stockman, after a White House meeting, that Reagan would veto such a measure. The outlook today is much what it has been from the outset: the President will get most of the spending cuts he wants, but his tax bill is in serious trouble.
—By George J. Church.
Reported by Gisela Bolte and Neil MacNeil/ Washington