Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday he expects a second economic stimulus package to be considered in the House before Congress leaves in late September.

While Republican leaders so far have said it is premature to consider another stimulus for the ailing economy, Hoyer, D-Md., said he hoped the Bush administration would see the need, as it did early this year, and work with Democrats to move a second package. “I hope for administration cooperation,” he said, to pass legislation by Sept. 26, the date Hoyer has set for the 110th Congress to adjourn.

“The need seems to be apparent,” Hoyer told reporters after joining Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democratic House leaders in a two-hour meeting with private-sector economists. “All the economists we talked to today indicated that additional action is needed,” he added.

Hoyer said the package would include elements already widely discussed — more infrastructure funding, heating assistance for low-income Americans, more money for food stamps and for state Medicaid programs. Pelosi said the proposal also could include another round of rebates for taxpayers, but she made no commitments.

“We’ll have to work in a bipartisan way because this legislation must be signed into law,” she said.

President Bush, however, pushed back Tuesday against the idea of a second stimulus bill, arguing Congress should wait for the full effects of the stimulus package enacted in February to take effect. That legislation provided rebates to taxpayers and tax breaks for businesses.

“We’re always open-minded to things, but I -- let’s see how this stimulus package works and let us deal with the housing market with a good piece of housing legislation, and the energy issue with good energy legislation, and the trade issue with good trade legislation,” Bush said at a news conference.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said the Senate will not be able to move a new stimulus bill until September.