Cheney hits Democrats on taxes, trade, energy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday called on Congress to preserve tax cuts passed by the Bush administration, approve a free trade agreement with Colombia and drill for more domestic oil.

"We must preserve the tax cuts delivered by President George W. Bush," Cheney said in a speech to the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Increasing taxes would hurt the economy, he said. "But that is precisely what is set to occur ... In six months will be the beginning of 2009 and the year after that, the Bush tax cuts passed by Congress in our first term will expire," he said.

"Letting the tax cuts expire would hit Americans with a $280 billion per year tax increase ... Understandably, the politicians who promise to get rid of the Bush tax cuts don't want to get into these details."

He criticized Democrats in the House of Representatives over a proposed trade deal with Colombia, saying House leadership refused to bring it to a vote.

"If the Democratic leadership in Congress persists in blocking the agreement, the result will be a tremendous setback for one of our closest allies in Latin America and sever damage to our nation's credibility in the region," he said

With oil and gasoline prices soaring, Cheney called for more domestic oil and gas drilling, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

"We must produce more energy, right here in the United States," said Cheney, who once headed oilfield services company Halliburton Co.. "We are an economy that runs on petroleum ... Yet on Capitol Hill, many have ignored the obvious and stood in the way of more domestic energy production."

"It's my own view that we should be drilling in ANWR in an environmentally responsible way."

(Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh; editing by David Wiessler)