Romney yields no ground to Obama over debt talks

By Shira Schoenberg

July 14, 2011

3 minutes to read

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave no ground to compromise today when asked about the continuing negotiations between President Obama and Congress over raising the federal debt ceiling.

“The answer for the country is for the president to agree to cut federal spending, to cap federal spending, and to put in place a balanced budget amendment,’’ Romney told more than 100 people at a Rotary Club luncheon. “It’s the answer for the debt limit and for the nation.’’

Republicans in Congress have been debating different proposals that could allow the country to raise the debt ceiling, with some cuts to federal spending.

Romney did not mention any of the specific proposals but said if the president agreed to cut spending and pass a balanced budget amendment, then “the debt issue disappears.’’

Federal spending is divided between 60 percent entitlement payments, 20 percent defense spending, and the remaining 20 percent for all other discretionary programs, Romney explained.

“If we want to balance the budget, we need to find a way to get the entitlement portion on a sustainable rate of growth so it doesn’t continue to eat up the entire economy,’’ he said.

Romney said if he were president, he would work with Democrats to get things accomplished – similar to the way he worked with Democratic legislative leaders in Massachusetts.

“I made it a practice not to attack my legislative leaders on a personal basis,’’ he said.

The comments on the debt ceiling came in response to audience questions; Romney has been accused by some of his GOP rivals of skirting the debt issue, a charge the candidate and his staff have disputed.

Romney used most his speech to appeal to the gathering of business leaders as a fellow businessman who understands the needs of businesses.

“I was a businessman for 25 years, a politician for only four and I didn’t inhale,’’ he quipped. Romney served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, but he ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 1994 and president in 2008, and has been campaigning ever since either for himself or other Republican candidates.

He also is the son of a three-term Michigan governor.

During a day’s worth of appearances across the first presidential primary state, Romney also planned to visit RSA Realty in Rochester, a company owned by former New Hampshire State Representative Packy Campbell.

He was a 2008 town chairman for John McCain who has endorsed Romney in the current campaign. Romney featured Campbell in a web video released today, in which Campbell echoed a point Romney has been making continuously – that government interference under President Obama has hurt the economy.

According to Campbell, RSA Realty shrunk from 35 employees to two over the last three years. He filed for personal bankruptcy.

During an interview, Campbell said the business was devastated by the economy, since no one is building new homes and people are delaying buying and selling. Campbell said he believes the impact of Obama’s federal health care overhaul and the high government spending creates uncertainty.

“No one has confidence about believing in government,’’ Campbell said.

In related news, Romney’s campaign today announced the endorsement of New Hampshire first-term State Senator Jim Rausch, who planned to introduce Romney at a Derry town hall meeting this evening.

Rausch is the third of the state’s 24 state senators to endorse Romney, but rival Tim Pawlenty announced today that Romney’s 2008 New Hampshire campaign chairman, Bruce Keough, had decided to endorse the former Minnesota governor.

The New Hampshire and Alabama Democratic Parties also chose today to add additional information to a previously filed complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that Romney is circumventing campaign financing laws by using state political action committees with looser regulations to raise amounts of money above federal limits.

The Globe first reported in April that Romney used state political action committees such as one in Alabama to collect checks that exceeded federal contribution limits, then transferred that money to his federal PAC, in a strategy that was legal but controversial.

Later that month, the New Hampshire Democratic Party filed a complaint alleging that because the money was used for overhead like staff salaries, rather than state expenses, it should be subject to federal campaign contribution limits.

The amended complaint makes the same claim with new evidence. It also alleges new violations under campaign finance laws that only apply to candidates who have officially declared their candidacy – which Romney had not when the original complaint was filed.