WASHINGTON (Reuters):

United States lawmakers have begun to consider whether the slowing U.S. economy needs the government's helping hand, but it is not clear what further steps, if any, the White House might be willing to consider.

When President George W. Bush declared last Thursday that "all options" would be weighed to counter a housing slump some fear will lead to recession, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill already had been thinking of ways to give the economy a lift.

Over the next month or so, if economic indicators worsen, lawmakers will be eager to jump on legislation to calm voters' jitters just months before presidential and congressional elections are held in November.

ECONOMIC RECESSION

"There is no doubt that we are going to deal with an economic slowdown/ recession and we need to do what is responsible," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who holds a high-ranking Democratic leadership job in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday - two days after some lawmakers had berated Bush for declaring, "This economy's pretty good" - Emanuel previewed Democrats' 2008 legislative priorities. Tax cuts and infrastructure investments were among the items he touched on, but offered no details.

After Bush's "all options" comment on Thursday, the White House appeared to try to tamp down speculation the administration would be pushing out a stimulus plan soon.

"All options are always on the table," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said on Friday.

A number of prominent economists, from former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers on the left to Harvard University professor Martin Feldstein on the right, have been warning of recession risks and urging the government to give the economy a fiscal boost.

"You have President Clinton's secretary of the Treasury and President Bush both talking about an economic stimulus package. There's more likely to develop some kind of consensus around that, and my belief is the president intends to head in that direction as well," said Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the second-ranking House Republican.

Blunt said discussions with the White House on an economic stimulus plan had not reached a detailed stage yet.

Still, senior administration officials are showing clear signs of concern about how the housing slump and related credit-market strains are being felt around the country.