The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> STIMULATED FLIGHT br> So what's one to make of the hissy fit Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas threw for the benefit of Robert Novak 's syndicated column ? /p>

The White House has been leaking to media and Capitol Hill sources plans to push through perhaps this year or early next a series of personal tax breaks and incentives, mostly targeted at middle and upper class investors. Novak's column quoted Hastert as saying that nothing could be done in the House without Thomas's backing -- and that Thomas wasn't backing Bush's plan. Never mind that both Thomas and Hastert were part of White House strategy meetings on the economic stimulus package earlier this summer.

"They feel overlooked," says a House Republican leadership staffer. "Hastert feels as though he's been doing the heavy lifting for the White House and he and the Republicans in the House don't get enough credit."

Novak's column made clear that economic stimulus was DOA in the House, in part, because of Thomas's desire to be hands on in the planning and the fact that this time he feels he wasn't, and because Thomas is more concerned about blunting Democratic economic legislation.