Iowa Congressman Jim Nussle, chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee, says democrats are off-base to suggest the tax cuts President Bush pushed through Congress are to blame for the federal budget deficit. Nussle says the federal budget’s in the red because of the war. Nussle says republicans in Congress “made a deliberate decision to go into deficit to protect this country.” Nussle, a republican from Manchester, says he’s unconcerned about standing for reelection on the G-O-P spending record. Nussle says in contrast to republicans, democrats at the state and national level are calling for tax increases. House Speaker Dennis Hastert also rejects the notion that making the Bush-era tax cuts permanent will make the federal budget deficit balloon. Hastert says the “best way to get rid of the deficit is to grow the economy.” And Hastert says the tax cuts have stimulated an economic recovery. Hastert was in Des Moines yesterday helping raise money for Stan Thompson, a republican from Des Moines who’s running for Boswell’s seat.