Metro-North riders, many of them still fuming over last week's debacle, were generally pleased by the rebate plan.

Legislators believe the rebate plan will generate an additional $3.7 million toward the $30.6 million needed to put into effect the first year of the education improvement package.

Then last week, as Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, was dreaming up his $100 rebate plan, President Hu moved on to Africa.

But he said G.M. had trained buyers to wait for big rebate plans, like the employee discount program it made available to customers last summer.

This ad seeks to bolster Mr. Corzine's position without addressing Republican concerns that his rebate plan will not ease the tax burden sufficiently for most residents.

A senior City Hall official said yesterday that the administration was considering agreeing to the earned income tax credit if the Council embraced the mayor's rebate plan.

On its own, Obama's rebate plan isn't going to resurrect the economy.

The rebate plan was intended to cover only economic losses that might result from any reduction in the trucks' resale value.

Early on, lobbyists for landlords whose rental properties are not covered by the rebate plan launched a vigorous campaign to kill it.

The rebate plan would cost about $16 billion to $20 billion, the official said.