ALBANY — On the same day Governor Spitzer announced that the state had persuaded a major baby food company to move its headquarters to an upstate town, Senate Republicans crowed that they had even better economic news, unveiling a $2 billion tax cut and capital spending plan they said would create thousands of new jobs.

Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation, which makes jarred products such as apple-sauce and banana pudding, agreed yesterday to construct a new plant in the town of Florida and relocate its corporate headquarters to the facility from St. Louis. The Spitzer administration lured the company with tens of millions of dollars in state grants and tax discounts.

The Senate economic plan, which is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Assembly, also contained new spending, which Republicans argued would spur growth. The plan includes a variety of business tax cuts and credits and calls for spending $300 million in capital debt on undetermined technology projects and increasing state pension fund investments in New York companies by another $300 million. The most expensive piece of the plan would pay for businesses to purchase state-subsidized health care for their employees.

Senate Republicans sense that Mr. Spitzer has made himself vulnerable on the state economy by focusing his attention on other areas, such as gay marriage and campaign finance.

Facing a tough election season next year that could result in their ouster from the majority, Republicans are seeking to make a case for their survival by standing out on the upstate economy. Their basic economic strategy is to increase state spending — or “economic development,” as they call it here — to encourage companies to do business in New York.

Spitzer officials said Republicans were jumping on the administration’s bandwagon, claiming that the Senate upstate package was a rehash of their own agenda.

“Since January 1st, my administration has made some significant strides toward tackling New York’s devastating economic decline,” Mr. Spitzer said in a statement. “Today the Senate released a plan that suggests they are now ready to join us in this effort.”

A spokesman for the governor said the governor’s top immediate economic concerns are scaling back the Wicks Law, a costly construction mandate that requires state and local governments to award multiple construction contracts for most public construction projects, and reauthorizing Article X of the public service law to expedite the siting of electricity plants.

Mr. Spitzer and legislative leaders are scheduled to meet today for another round of public discussions about their end-of-session priorities.

At the press conference announcing the Senate package, the Republican Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, was asked if there was anything he would cut from this year’s $120.7 billion budget. In his response, Mr. Bruno, 78, suggested he was a student of both trickle-down economics and Keynesian economics, two conflicting schools of theory.

“Where would I cut spending? You know what really makes sense is to invest heavily in the economy and job creation. … What we are saying here, and we’re saying it as forcefully as we can … you stimulate the economy, simple Economics 101, okay, broaden your revenue base,” Mr. Bruno said. “How do you it? That’s the trickle-down. That’s the Keynesian theory of economics, stimulate — what do they call it? — prime the pump. Think about it, makes sense, you invest, and it pays off.”