Washington ? President George W. Bush, focusing increasingly on his domestic agenda, turned up the pressure Saturday on lawmakers of his own party who were resisting his demand for a half-trillion dollars in new tax cuts.

Bush derided members of Congress who, although a part of the Republican majority that supports fresh tax relief, were refusing to accept the amount the president said was necessary to revive the economy.

“Since they already agree that tax relief creates jobs, it doesn’t make sense to provide less tax relief and, therefore, create fewer jobs,” Bush said in his weekly radio address. “I believe we should enact more tax relief, so that we can create more jobs and more Americans can find work and provide for their families.”

Lawmakers significantly scaled back the president’s original proposal for $726 billion in tax cuts over 10 years. The House capped new tax relief at $550 billion, and the Senate said it should be no greater than $350 billion. Two Republican senators were opposed to any new cuts, and two others adamantly rejected any above $350 billion.

That political reality has led the White House to scale back its expectations, saying at least $550 billion is now the president’s goal.

In addition, Iraq was not the subject of Bush’s weekly radio address for the first time since February, moved aside by the coming congressional battle on the size of tax cuts. However, Bush’s speech Saturday night at the annual White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner focused on journalists who have died covering the war on terror.

At least 13 journalists from around the world died covering the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the ouster of its leader, Saddam Hussein.

In his address, Bush singled out two American reporters who died early this month in Iraq.

“Michael Kelly’s readers knew of his intellectual courage. He wrote with integrity and moral conviction, never attempting to gain favor or to please the powerful,” Bush said to applause.

Kelly, 46, editor-at-large for The Atlantic Monthly magazine and a syndicated Washington Post columnist, died April 3 near Baghdad when the vehicle in which he was riding ran into a canal.

The president called David Bloom, a 39-year-old reporter for NBC News and weekend anchor of the network’s “Today” show, “the perfect man to carry viewers along on the charge to Baghdad.”

“David had a natural sincerity that people liked,” Bush said.

Bloom died April 6 from a blood clot while covering the war south Baghdad.