Playing Nice

President Bush and Congress came up with a welcome example of bipartisanship yesterday by reaching a deal to give the U.S. economy a financial booster shot.

The tentative agreement calls for most American workers to receive rebate checks of $300 to $600 by late spring or early summer. Couples with children would get an extra $300 per child, up to $1,200. Businesses could write off more purchases of equipment.

The rebates will go to 117 million families with incomes of up to $174,000. The hope is that consumers will spend those checks quickly, pumping cash into the economy and blunting the impact of a recession.

The swiftness with which lawmakers struck a compromise underscores the seriousness of the credit crisis and the anxiety level of Congress in an election year. House Speaker Nancy E. Pelosi (D., Calif.) said the $150 billion package is "the fastest way to get the money into the hands of the American people."

Pelosi probably gave up the most in negotiations. There was broad support by Democrats to extend unemployment benefits beyond the normal 26 weeks, and to increase spending for food stamps.

Pelosi abandoned those items in return for Republicans' agreement to give rebates of at least $300 to all workers. Initially, the Bush administration wanted to give rebates only to people who pay income taxes, which would have left out at least 30 million working households with low incomes.

This part of the compromise isn't ideal - food stamps and unemployment benefits are two effective ways to get money into the hands of people who will spend it quickly. But the agreement to give some rebates to all low-income workers, and extra for their children, does extend the relief to a broader segment of the population that needs it most.

Senate Democrats, who are grumbling about additional food stamps and unemployment benefits being dropped, shouldn't hold up the deal over those two points.