Sluggish growth disappoints White House

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The slow rate of growth in the U.S. economy "is nothing to crow about," a White House spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Dana Perino expressed some concern as well as hope over new government figures showing the economy grew at an anemic 0.6 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2008.

"It is very slow growth," Perino told reporters at an off-camera briefing. "But it is growth nonetheless."

While the gross domestic product figures from the U.S. Commerce Department hardly can cheer President Bush, administration officials privately said they realize it could have been worse -- some economists had predicted either slower growth or negative growth for the first three months of the year.

Asked if Bush feels vindicated in refusing to call the sluggish economy a recession, Perino demurred, saying the president is focused on trying to fix the economy rather than putting a label on it.

She added that while the president "is not satisfied that we've done all we can" to help the economy, he is confident the tax rebate checks that started going out electronically this week will provide a boost to struggling consumers.

"We do believe that will have a desired effect in helping continue a turnaround in the economy where people can start to see more relief across the board in terms of their take-home pay so that they have more to spend on things that they need to spend on as families," she said.

On the issue of soaring gasoline prices, Perino suggested Bush is not in favor of legislation that would impose a "windfall profits tax" on wealthy oil companies.

"The president, while he's willing to take a look at things, is not going to do anything rash that might end up hurting consumers more in the long run," she said.

"I think attacks on specific companies like that would end up dis-incentivizing those companies."

Both Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have called for a windfall tax on oil companies as oil prices have soared to more than $100 a barrel.

Clinton has suggested that the tax on oil profits could be used to pay for a suspension of the federal gas tax during the summer months.

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, also supports the idea of a "tax holiday" but not a windfall tax on oil companies. E-mail to a friend

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