House and Senate strike deal on $350 billion tax cut

WASHINGTON - House and Senate tax writers struck agreement Wednesday on a $350 billion tax cut that Republicans leaders plan to pass by Memorial Day. <br> <br> Negotiators said they had the votes to pass the bill in the House and Senate this week, delivering President Bush about half the economic stimulus package he requested. ``We do have 50 votes,&#39;&#39; said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. <br> <br> The agreement combines roughly $330 billion in tax cuts with $20 billion in aid to states. House and Senate tax writers trimmed a $383 billion package assembled earlier in the day to $350 billion to win the crucial support of Republican George Voinovich of Ohio. <br> <br> ``If they stay within the 350, I&#39;m fine,&#39;&#39; Voinovich said. ``I appreciate the fact that they&#39;ve been trying to honor my concerns and make me an honest man.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Voinovich, who had worked with other moderates to limit the Senate&#39;s tax cut, spent the afternoon with Vice President Dick Cheney in the private hideaway office of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., to shrink the cost of the package. <br> <br> The negotiators agreed to move up the expiration date of one of the bill&#39;s most expensive provision, which cuts taxes on capital gains and dividends to 15 percent. The policy had been set to expire after 2009. It would now expire in 2007, 2008 or 2009, depending on analysis still under construction by congressional tax experts.