n the second week of post-complacency America, the need for President Bush and the leaders of Congress to assemble a bipartisan package to rescue the faltering economy is becoming clearer each day. It was a particularly reassuring sign yesterday that House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans reached out to consult not only with Alan Greenspan but also former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin for ideas on what such a package might entail. Mr. Bush now has the opportunity to deliver on his longstanding pledge of a cooperative relationship with Democrats on the economy.

Washington is a very different place now than it was two weeks ago. The Social Security "lockbox" is open, and there is universal agreement that at least $40 billion is to be spent to rebuild and prepare for new terrorist threats. Another equally large stimulus package is being considered by the White House, even though Mr. Bush had said earlier that the tax cut enacted earlier this year would by itself probably be enough to turn the economy around.

Wartime fervor has always, and should always, sideline narrow partisan considerations. "Politics is adjourned," Woodrow Wilson declared in 1918 as he first led Americans out of their isolationism and into a frightening new world of global responsibilities. But cooperation on details should not mean the surrender of basic principles, such as fairness in the way sacrifice is demanded.

It also does not mean abdicating common sense. Until a few days ago, Representative Bill Thomas of California, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, had been talking about ramming through a cut in the capital gains tax, a step that would lavish 80 percent of its benefits on the top 2 percent of the wealthiest Americans. Fortunately Speaker Hastert, apparently with White House encouragement, has gotten the fire-breathing Republicans to back off what would certainly have been seen as an attempt to exploit the current crisis on behalf of the regressive G.O.P. economic agenda.

Shoring up American confidence will require smart budget policies. In terms of giving a boost to the economy, spending is more likely to have an impact than tax cuts. The plans going forward to upgrade military defenses, overhaul airport and transportation security systems and rebuild a shattered New York may themselves go far in stimulating the economy. But Congress and the administration must avoid allowing these expenditures to become excuses for cutbacks in other vital programs for children, health care and the environment, as some in Washington have suggested.

In this moment of bipartisanship, Democrats have also begun to signal that they may not fight the administration ・at least for now ・on some of its priorities, including missile defense. The White House, in turn, agreed to withdraw two controversial appointments, to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission when Democrats signaled that these would not be approved without a fight. That was a smart gesture on the part of the administration. But to secure true bipartisanship, Congress needs to do something far more difficult ・reconsider the gigantic tax cut enacted earlier this year. The world in which that tax cut was approved seems very distant now. At a time of military mobilization and demands for sacrifice from all Americans, Mr. Bush and Congress ought to be willing, in effect, to conscript that portion of the tax cut that takes effect a few years from now and lowers taxes on the wealthiest Americans. In terms of fairness and economic stability, it makes no sense to cut taxes for the future when the need for action now is paramount.

Mr. Bush and the Democrats are promising to lay aside their partisan squabbling. They cannot do that if either side tries to exploit the current atmosphere to push Congress into supporting an agenda from an earlier period. Congress wants to rally around. If it does so in a real spirit of cooperation, the American people will follow.