WHITE HOUSE, LAWMAKERS AGREE ON $150 BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE

President Bush and House leaders struck a deal on Thursday for a $150 billion fiscal stimulus package, including rebates for most tax filers of up to $600 for individuals, $1,200 for couples.

If everything goes according to plan, Americans would start receiving their cheks in the mail by May this year.

The deal capped a series of fast-paced and intense negotiations in which the Bush administration and lawmakers in both parties had to agree to numerous compromises after more than a year of acid relations between Congressional Democrats and the White House.

In praising the deal, Mr. Bush said it had resulted from “the kind of cooperation that some predicted was not possible here in Washington.”

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The House is expected to approve the package on Feb. 6, and the leaders in both chambers have set a goal of Feb. 15 to send a measure for the president’s signature, a deadline Senate Democrats said they could meet even though they had reservations about the plan.

Although the two sides made big concessions, the deal came together because each side could walk away claiming victory.

The White House made clear early that it would not insist on permanently extending the president’s tax cuts from 2001 and 2003. Many Democrats had seen such a demand as a potential deal breaker.

And Speaker Nancy Pelosi ultimately bowed to Mr. Bush’s insistence that the package not include extending unemployment benefits or increasing food stamps.

And by the time Ms. Pelosi, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and the House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, formally announced the deal at a brief news conference at the Capitol, the two sides were crowing that they had achieved something remarkable, even as some economists questioned whether the package could be adopted and put into effect quickly enough to have a real effect.

Republicans expressed satisfaction that they had forced House Democrats to show fiscal restraint, by agreeing to a plan focused mostly on tax cuts.

“I have always believed that allowing people to keep more of their own money and use it as they see fit is the best way to help our economy grow,” Mr. Bush said. “I’m also pleased that this agreement does not include any tax increases, as well as unnecessary spending projects.”

House Democrats , in turn, said they were pleased that they had persuaded the White House to endorse a package primarily benefiting middle- and working-class Americans by setting income caps on the full rebates at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for joint filers.

Democrats said that would be the reverse of Mr. Bush’s earlier tax policies, which primarily benefited wealthier filers.

“It’s the mirror opposite,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the Democratic conference chairman. “This is middle class and progressive.”

Senate Democrats, however, immediately criticized the plan, which also provides tax breaks for businesses, and said they were developing their own package that could temporarily extend unemployment benefits and increase food stamps.

Some economists agree with Senate Democrats that increasing the benefits and food stamps would inject money into the economy faster than the rebate checks, which would not be sent until May at the earliest.

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House Democrats countered that their package would send more money to low-income workers than an increase in food stamps, and they pointed to a projection that 35 million families would receive one-time payments of $300, even though they did not earn enough money to pay income taxes. Under the deal, tax filers who earned at least $3,000 last year, but paid less than $300 in income tax, would receive the $300.

The majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who had said the House should lead in negotiating the package with the White House, was one of several Democrats calling the House plan “a first step,” but saying the Senate expected to shape the final result.

“The secretary of the Treasury has understood, the president has understood, the speaker has understood that when it comes over here, we are going to take another look at it,” Mr. Reid said.

Among the components the Senate might seek to add, he said, was a summer jobs program for young people at a cost of $500 million to $1 billion. Some Democrats said they would push for more public works spending, which is often given low marks as a tool because projects take too long to start.