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In a televised speech from Chicago, President Bush unveiled a package of tax relief and other incentives aimed at stimulating a sagging U.S. economy.

Bush called his 10-year, $674 billion package a "growth and jobs" plan to stimulate the economy and claimed it would provide tax relief to an estimated 92 million Americans through a variety of methods.

Among the main points of the Bush plan are the elimination of federal taxes on stock dividends, the acceleration of previously approved income tax cuts and the increasing of the child tax credit.

Bush also said he would seek greater help for jobless Americans, including the extension unemployment benefits that expired on Dec. 28, 2002.

"I will ask members of both parties to work with me to secure our economic future. We cannot be satisfied until every part of our economy is healthy and vigorous," Bush said in his speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.

Democrats had attacked the plan before it was unveiled as being weighted to unequally benefit only the wealthiest Americans. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that the president does not believe in punishing people because they are successful, the Associated Press reported.

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) responded in a press conference to the president's plan, calling it not a shot in the arm for the economy, but a "shot in the foot."

Economists and business leaders both hailed the president's plan as a step in the right direction, AP said.

The two largest pieces of Bush’s plan are the elimination of taxes on dividends paid from stocks and the acceleration of tax cuts, retroactive to Jan. 1, that were slated to take effect in 2004 and 2006.