The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> NEW DOUBT ABOUT IT br> The White House economic team was miffed that House Ways and Means Committee chairman Bill Thomas bad-mouthed the Bush economic stimulus package the day before the president was expected to make a strong pitch for it in his State of the Union Address. /p>

Thomas, who is known on the Hill for being particularly prickly, went out of his way on Monday to say that the Bush plan needed much going over with a fine tooth comb, particularly in the areas that gave investors breaks on taxation of dividends. The White House had been assured by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Republican leader Tom DeLay that the economic package would be put on a fast track. "We need the House to move, so that we can focus on winning in the Senate," says a White House legislative staffer, adding humorously: "Maybe Thomas didn't get the memo."

Thomas has angered the White House in the past, complaining about not being let into the loop on economic and tax policy planning, even though the White House claims that Thomas is more plugged in on some issues than his own House leadership.

"In the end, there's little doubt that we're going to move the stimulus package through," says a Ways and Means staffer. "The chairman just likes being the chairman, and raising questions about legislation is one way he can remind others that he's in charge, at least of this committee."

p> NO MORE BURTON COMMITTEE br> One thing you could always say about Indiana congressman Dan Burton , erstwhile chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, was that he was loyal to his people almost to a fault. But that's not what those people are now saying about the committee's new chairman, Virginia Rep. Tom Davis