President Bush today will use skyrocketing gasoline prices as an argument for making his tax cuts permanent, a move he believes will help sustain a robust economic expansion.
“Particularly at a time when Americans are paying more at the pump, the president believes the last thing they need is for Washington to take more of their hard-earned dollars out of their pockets,” White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters on Tuesday.
In a speech this morning at a Washington hotel, Bush is expected to argue that making his tax cuts permanent will help sustain the economic expansion. Gross domestic product grew at a rate of 3.5 percent last year, followed by a 4.8 percent increase in the first quarter of this year.
“To keep our economy strong and growing, the tax relief needs to be made permanent,” McClellan said. “Congress is on the verge of taking an important step on tax relief by completing legislation that would extend cuts on capital gains and dividends and extend incentives for small businesses to expand.”
The spokesman took a pre-emptive shot at Democratic opposition to making the tax cuts permanent.
“Many Democrats opposed the tax relief we passed; most voted against the tax cuts,” he said. “Now many are in favor of letting the tax cuts expire. The president is determined not to let them take the tax relief we passed away.”
Bush is also expected to call on Congress to restrain federal spending. Many conservatives have criticized Bush for expanding the size of government with such programs as a prescription drug entitlement.
But the White House said spending would have increased even faster without Bush reining in expenditures.
“Each year since the president has been in office we have slowed growth in nonsecurity, discretionary spending,” McClellan said. “And in the last two budgets, we have actually cut this spending.”
