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WASHINGTON -- The White House declined to clarify Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's comments that the planned economic stimulus package should reach a large number of U.S. "citizens," remarks interpreted as support for giving tax rebates to people who don't pay income taxes.

"I'm not going to read anything into Secretary Paulson's comments," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Wednesday. "All those details about what's going to be in a package and how it will be disbursed are yet to be determined and be worked out by Secretary Paulson."

Leading the administration's effort to craft a stimulus package, Mr. Paulson is meeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

The Treasury Secretary said last week that the White House wants to bring tax relief to "those who are paying taxes." But he appeared to back off of that line on Tuesday, when he told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the "package must reach a large number of citizens."

That would address concerns of many Democrats, who want tax rebates related to the stimulus to reach people who don't make enough to pay income taxes.

Ms. Perino also declined to comment on the potential for a second economic stimulus package that would go into effect later in the year. "I hadn't hear that, but perhaps Secretary Paulson has heard that from members of Congress who are providing their ideas to him," she said. "This president has not talked about a second package, he wants this package to be robust enough to have the impact that we need."

Still, Ms. Perino didn't rule out any options.

"As I said yesterday, we're not closing any doors to ideas that other members of Congress might have, so I don't think I need to explain his comments," she said.

Copyright © 2008 Associated Press

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