Bush calls for making tax cuts permanent

In Iowa Monday, Bush talked taxes and promoted legislation that would allow energy exploration in Alask's Artic National Wildlife Refuge.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (CNN) -- On the day millions of Americans are putting the final touches on their tax returns, President Bush touted last year's tax cuts as "absolutely right" and said they are helping the U.S. economy weather recession by encouraging job growth.

"Today, at least, we get to call it 'tax relief day,'" Bush said in a speech at a General Mills plant in Cedar Rapids. "The best way to make sure that workers continue to work in the face of a recession is to cut the taxes on the people who do the work in America, and that's what we did."

Bush said that as people prepare their tax returns this year, they will notice lower marginal tax rates, a new 10 percent bracket for low-income workers and increases in the child tax credit and tax-free contributions to educational savings accounts, IRAs and 401(k)s.

But noting that a number of the tax cuts passed last year are set to expire in 2011, the president said he thinks "that doesn't make much sense" and called on Congress to make them permanent.

"It's going to be hard to plan your future if you think all of a sudden these things get kicked in full time and then go away," he said. "They need to make these tax cuts permanent -- for the good of the working people in America, for the good of families, for the good of small businesses, for the good of farmers and ranchers."

Bush also said both the economic and national security of the country depend on having an energy policy, and he made a pitch for legislation that is now before the Senate that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

To buttress his argument, he noted a recent pronouncement by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that his country will stop exporting oil for 30 days in response to violence in the Middle East.

"It makes sense to me that we better, in order to make sure he doesn't hold us hostage ... figure out a way to explore for more energy at home," Bush said.

The president also dismissed as "propaganda" claims by critics that ANWR drilling will wreak environmental havoc in the pristine area. He said new technology will allow exploration to be done with minimal impact.

"The technology has changed to the point where I can confidently say that exploration for energy in ANWR and Alaska can be done without leaving a footprint that will effect the environment in a negative, harmful way," he said.