White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday that President Barack Obama is not threatening to veto legislation that would extend all of the Bush tax cuts because he does not expect such a measure to clear Congress.

“I don’t think legislation is going to come to the president’s desk that we would need to veto,” Gibbs said during a Thursday briefing.

Obama has been making the hard sell for Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts to the middle class, but not to the wealthy. Obama wants the tax cuts, enacted in 2001 and 2003, to expire for couples making more than $250,000 a year or individuals making $200,000 or more.

Obama dodged questions about whether he would veto a bill that passes a short-term extension of all the Bush tax cuts, including for the wealthy, during a Thursday interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” The White House and Congressional Democrats have endorsed only extending middle-class tax cuts.

“If we are going to add to our deficit by $35 billion, $95 billion, $100 billion, $700 billion, if that’s the Republican agenda, then I’ve got a whole bunch of better ways to spend that money,” Obama said.