OHIO VISIT Cheney touts Bush's economic program

Cheney urged Congress to make Bush-supported tax cuts permanent.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio -- Bolstered by tax cuts proposed by President George W. Bush, America's economy is growing and moving in the right direction, Vice President Dick Cheney says.
"The president's economic program is making a difference," the Republican vice president told about 150 workers and guests Thursday at a fuel-cell manufacturing firm in this town about 10 miles north of Columbus.
Accompanied by his wife, Lynne, the vice president praised the tax cuts pushed by President Bush in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and called on Congress to make them permanent.
"The pro-growth strategy begins by leaving more money in the hands of the people that earn it," Cheney said to cheers from crowd at NexTech Materials, a 35-employee company with annual revenues of about $4 million.
Cheney said critics in Washington, D.C., have said the tax cuts wouldn't matter.
"Out here in the real world, it sounds a little different," Cheney said during his 15-minute speech.
Effect on Ohio families
The vice president said that 4.4 million Ohio taxpayers have seen their taxes reduced, and that about 1 million families have benefited from an increase in the federal child tax credit.
For small businesses, the president has pushed for tax relief to help businesses expand, Cheney said, and the federal government has cut marginal tax rates.
The vice president said Bush's policies have helped to create jobs.
Cheney said about 4,300 Ohio workers found employment in April and about 35,000 Ohioans have gone back to work since December.
Ohio unemployment stood at 5.3 percent in April, Cheney said, down from 6.3 percent last summer. Nationally, the unemployment rate is 5.6 percent, down from 6.3 percent last June, he added.
Cheney said interest rates and inflation are down while homeownership rates are at their highest levels ever.
Acknowledging that the national economy has sustained hits because of a recession and the 2001 terrorist attacks that struck the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Cheney said more work needs to be done to encourage economic growth.
Looking ahead
He said the Bush administration intends to push for a reduction on federal mandates on businesses, national reform of the civil litigation system and health-care reform.
Cheney pushed for congressional action on medical liability reform to stop what he called "frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits" to make sure litigants "don't run good doctors out of business and drive up the cost of health care."
His message was well-received by many in the audience.
"I think it's important that they take the time to support the small businesses that are being very innovative," said Dustin Miller, a 28-year-old assistant principal at Coffman High School in the Columbus suburb of Dublin. "Our economy is moving in the right direction."
Before speaking to the crowd, the vice president toured NexTech's 56,000-square-foot facility with William Dawson, company president and chief executive officer.
The firm combines fuel and air into electricity for uses such as powering homes and businesses as well as auxiliary power, said Jon Foreman, sales and marketing manager with NexTech Materials. The firm is privately held and has federal contracts.
Critical of visit
Jim Ruvolo, the Ohio state chairman for Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, panned the Cheney visit.
"Dick Cheney and George Bush take the word of Washington bureaucrats when they tell them economy in Ohio is just great," Ruvolo said in a statement. "John Kerry listens to Ohio's families to find out how they are doing and he knows we must do better for them."
The vice president's trip to central Ohio comes on the heels of Kerry's two-day trip to the Buckeye State. Kerry visited Cincinnati and Columbus on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, for fund-raisers and political events.