Meanwhile...back at home:

Democrats and Republican moderates in the closely divided Senate, which took up its 2004 spending blueprint Monday, want to shrink Bush's $726 billion tax cut package by more than half, to about $350 billion.

Congressional analysts estimate Bush's tax and spending policies would cost the government $2.7 trillion over the next decade, generating budget deficits every single year and turning an $890 billion surplus into a $1.82 trillion deficit.

In the House, which is due to begin debating its own plan Wednesday, moderate Republicans are loudly protesting deep spending reductions proposed to try to balance the budget while still paying for the tax cuts.

The House plan would essentially freeze nondefense spending in 2004 and require $470 billion in spending cuts over the next decade to government programs like the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance ones for the elderly and poor.