President George W. Bush focused on tax policy during his visit to Cedar Rapids yesterday — deadline day for filing federal income taxes. Bush said the tax cuts he pushed through last year saved the nation from an even deeper recession. Bush says the state of Iowa had 974-thousand refund checks mailed out, for a total of 426-MILLION dollars distributed to Iowans.Bush says, “If you let people keep their own money, they tend to spend it.” Bush says people will spend the money on goods and that will help the economy. Some of the recently enacted tax cuts expire in 2011, and Bush says Congress should make ’em permanent. Bush says it’s going to be hard to plan the future is the tax cuts go away. Bush spoke to a crowd of about 500 at the General Mills plant in Cedar Rapids.He says Cedar Rapids has more trade per capita than many other cities. Bush told the crowd no harm would come of drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, but also gave a nod to alternative technology. He says renewable sources of energy like ethanol produced from Iowa corn should be a focus. After the factory visit, Bush attended a fundraiser for republican Congressman Greg Ganske, who hopes to challenge democrat Senator Tom Harkin in November. Ganske faces a primary challenge on June 4th from Bill Salier, a political newcomer. Ganske announced yesterday that he’s raised over two-point-four MILLION dollars for his campaign.
