Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle says President Bush made a direct appeal today to Senate Republicans who’re reluctant to back the federal budget plan that cleared the House last night. Bush met privately with republicans on Capitol Hill, and Nussle, who is chairman of the House Budget Committee, was in the room. Nussle says the President told Congressional Republicans the tax cuts have helped stimulate the economy, that he’s committed to staying the course in Iraq and that he wants them to pass the budget bill Nussle helped craft. Some republican senators have expressed concerns, and Nussle says it’s now up to the President to swing the final few votes. Nussle says there’s no such thing as a perfect budget, but he says the House-passed plan is a good budget that meets the demands of the global war on terror and the need to continue the tax cuts. Nussle says he has personally lobbied members of the Senate, but it’s probably going to take pressure from the President to “break the log-jam” and get the bill passed in the Senate.