It might be only the third week of the new congressional session, but freshman Rep. Michael McMahon and his House colleagues could have front seats to some potential clashes between two Democratic Party titans: President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

After his history-making inauguration on Tuesday, Obama settled down yesterday to the people's business, including meeting with lawmakers and his economic advisers about the nation's troubled economy.

But while Obama is working with House leaders on an $825 billion stimulus package and other measures, he finds himself at odds with Ms. Pelosi on some key issues that could come before House members, including McMahon (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn), for a vote.

Ms. Pelosi wants Congress to consider repealing President George W. Bush's tax cuts for those who make more than $250,000 and which are set to expire at the end of 2010.

Obama promised to repeal the tax cuts during the presidential campaign, but has since backed off that pledge, signaling he would be willing simply to let them expire.

Ms. Pelosi also has said she wants an investigation into whether the Bush administration broke the law when it fired a group of federal prosecutors. Obama has been more cautious, saying he wants to look to the future, not to the past.

On the tax cuts, McMahon said he agrees with Obama.

"Now is not the time to change the tax code or raise taxes," McMahon, a member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition in the House, told the Advance. "We're in a deep recession. We need to stimulate the economy, and think about tax cuts, not tax hikes."

The question of prosecuting members of the Bush administration is a thornier one, said McMahon, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

House Democrats last week recommended a criminal investigation to determine whether administration officials broke the law in the name of national security. Along with the fired prosecutors, the report cited interrogation of foreign detainees, warrantless wiretaps, retribution against critics and manipulation of intelligence.

"That's a very difficult question," said McMahon, who is an attorney, "because justice requires that any criminal conduct be punished. That being said, I understand Obama's hesitancy. This is dicey stuff. The president is right to move cautiously."

A House committee was ready to put the final touches on much of the spending side of the stimulus plan, readying that portion of the bill so the House can consider the entire package next week.

The House also planned a vote yesterday afternoon on legislation setting goals and conditions for spending the financial rescue money, provisions the Obama administration already has embraced.

House Republicans, meanwhile, seized on a new Congressional Budget Office study that predicts just $26 billion of the $358 billion in infrastructure and other appropriated spending in the stimulus bill would be delivered to the economy in the eight months left in the fiscal year. - Associated Press material was used in this report.

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