Labor Minister Eric Woerth, who is in charge of pensions reform, also hinted at concessions to trade unions to win acceptance of the unpopular plan to raise the retirement age which he will present to the cabinet on Tuesday.
The funding scandal has tarnished Sarkozy's image, embarrassed the ruling center-right and contributed to the government's loss of a formerly ultra-safe parliamentary seat in a by-election on Sunday.
Critics have accused Woerth of taking an illegal 150,000 euro cash donation from France's richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, and her late husband. They also say he abused his position as budget minister, a job he held until March, to shield her from a tax audit.
Woerth has denied receiving any illegal funds and the finance ministry's tax inspectorate concluded in report rushed out on Sunday that he had not intervened in the tax affairs of the Bettencourts, their wealth manager or friends.
Woerth told Europe 1 radio he had not contemplated resigning as UMP treasurer at the height of the furor but would consider it now that the tax inspectorate had exonerated him.
"I needed to have this (report) from the General Inspectorate of Finance ... I will think about it (resigning)," he said, declining to give a timeframe for any decision.
The government was quick to proclaim that the investigation had cleared Woerth, even though it did not cover allegations by Bettencourt's former bookkeeper that he received illegal cash for Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign.
Woerth was treasurer of Sarkozy's campaign and remained UMP treasurer while serving as budget minister in charge of tax matters, while his wife worked for Bettencourt's wealth manager, prompting accusations of a conflict of interest.
Sarkozy is expected to try to refocus public attention on the pension reform and on budget savings needed to bring down the public deficit which is equal to 8 percent of French gross domestic product and debt of more than 80 percent of GDP.
The government plans to raise the retirement age gradually to 62 in 2018 from 60, increase the contribution years required for a full pension and raise civil servants' contributions to private sector levels over a decade.
Woerth said the government may amend the draft bill after talks with unions to take greater account of arduous work in the industrial sector when determining entitlement to earlier retirement. He would take the matter up on a trip on Monday to the eastern region of Alsace.
"I don't feel at all weakened neither physically or morally. I believe in this reform... On arduous work ... I will be in Alsace to discuss
Police are investigating the funding allegations are looking into statements by Bettencourt's former bookkeeper, Claire Thibout, which wealth manager Patrice de Maistre has denied. They are also probing suspected laundering of the proceeds of tax evasion by Bettencourt via undeclared Swiss bank accounts.
Bettencourt was a big beneficiary of a so-called fiscal shield enacted after Sarkozy took office, under which the total tax take is limited to 50 percent of a person's income.
Woerth confirmed that the heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics fortune received a 30 million euro rebate as a result.
Sunday's by-election in Rambouillet, southwest of Paris, was won by a Green candidate backed by the opposition Socialists on a very low turnout, highlighting the political damage to Sarkozy from the Bettencourt affair. The left had never won the safe conservative seat before.
Socialist party leader Martine Aubry called the result "a very clear snub to the president and the government, and a strong rejection of the climate created by these revelations and scandals."
