By Joseph J. Schatz, CQ Staff

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner will propose an economic recovery package Tuesday focused on tax breaks and energy production, part of a pre-election GOP push to turn voters against Democratic plans to push through billions of dollars in new spending to stimulate the economy.

Boehner, R-Ohio, will announce the plan in conjunction with the Freedom Project, a political action committee of which he is honorary chairman. He sent a memo to Republican members and candidates over the weekend urging them to draw a contrast with Democratic leaders’ expected stimulus proposal and Democratic nominee Barack Obama ’s “spreading the wealth” comment, which Republicans say portends higher taxes.

“We must capitalize,” the memo read, referencing “a Democratic leadership out of touch with regular Americans on the issue they care most about.”

According to a draft of the GOP plan, Boehner would double the size of the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000 per child, reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, suspend the capital gains tax on equities purchased over the next two years and allow all U.S. businesses to expense newly acquired business property. It would amend existing law so that expanded offshore oil and gas drilling can begin “in months, not years.”

Congress and the White House found common ground in February on a stimulus package (PL 110-185), the centerpiece of which was $116.7 billion in “recovery rebates” to taxpayers. In September, the House passed a $60.8 billion stimulus bill (HR 7110) including infrastructure, health care and other spending, but a similar package (S 3604) stalled in the Senate. Democratic leaders now say that a package may need to be in the $150 billion range, though some economists advising the leadership suggest that something in the range of $300 billion should be considered.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., released a statement Monday vowing that the Democratic plan will “address the economic crisis in the short-term and the long-term, creating good-paying jobs here at home and making us more competitive in the 21st century global economy.”

“After Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced last week his support for economic recovery legislation, I spoke with President Bush and we agreed to strive to find bipartisan agreement on an economic recovery package,” Pelosi said. “Now we must find what is both fiscally responsible and politically possible, and the House-passed legislation is a strong starting point, which the Senate could pass next month and send to the president.”

Administration officials have said they are open to stimulus proposals, but have questioned whether the Democratic plans would have the intended effect of boosting the economy.