(Reuters) – President Bush

has decided against offering grants to cash-strapped states as

part of a $674 billion economic stimulus package he is to

unveil Tuesday, the White House said.

The White House had been considering providing $10 billion

to states to reduce budget woes but White House spokesman Ari

Fleischer told reporters that Bush had decided against it.

“The goal of the package is to stimulate the economy, not

transfer money from one taxpayer-funded source in the

government to another taxpayer-funded source in a different

government,” Fleischer said.

However, the package does include $3.6 billion to fund

“personal reemployment accounts” for unemployed workers, which

is also aimed at easing state burdens for unemployment costs.

Fleischer said the White House expects the stimulus package

to boost economic growth but offered no specific estimates for

how it would affect Gross Domestic Product or federal budget

deficits. “The president believes that this ultimately will

help reduce the deficit” by boosting growth, he said.