Romney Campaign Press Release - The Romney Agenda: Real Conservative Solutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Today, Governor Romney Discussed His Strategy To Meet America's Challenges With Real Conservative Solutions. Our country faces unprecedented challenges. We can rise to these challenges through conservative change in Washington. With a record of success and exceptional leadership, Governor Romney has outlined detailed conservative solutions for strengthening America.

- Click Here To View Governor Romney's PowerPoint Presentation On His Conservative Solutions For America.

CHALLENGE #1: Ending Washington's Spending Binge:

Governor Romney Will End Washington's Spending Binge. Americans are concerned about the overspending in Washington. Like the millions of families and businesses across the country, government should also live within a budget. Governor Romney has outlined the conservative solutions necessary to meet this challenge by:

- SOLUTION #1: Vetoing Appropriations Bills That Exceed Spending Targets. He will veto any non-defense appropriations bill that grows spending at a rate greater than inflation minus one percent (CPI-1%). This will save $300 billion over 10 years.

- SOLUTION #2: Giving The President The Line-Item Veto Power Again. Restoring this power to the President would allow us to make tremendous strides in eliminating earmarks and cutting inefficient programs.

- SOLUTION #3: Leading An Effort To Review And Reevaluate All Federal Spending Programs. Governor Romney's administration will undertake an exhaustive review of each individual federal program to eliminate and consolidate programs that are no longer useful or are bureaucratic and unwieldy.

- SOLUTION #4: Giving The Executive Branch The Authority To Spend Up To 25% Less Than Congress Appropriates. The amount of money Congress tells the President to spend should be a spending ceiling, not a final price tag.

- SOLUTION #5: Calling On Congress To Re-Impose A Three-Fifths (60%) Supermajority Requirement To Raise Taxes. Making it even harder to attempt to increase taxes will help impose the fiscal discipline we need to stop overspending.

CHALLENGE #2: Reforming An Entitlement System Facing A Demographic Flood:


Governor Romney Will Work To Reform Entitlement Programs. By 2050, total entitlement spending by the government will reach nearly 20% of America's GDP. This reality demands action now. Governor Romney has outlined the conservative solutions necessary to meet this crisis by:

- SOLUTION #1: Working With Congress To Reform Social Security. In a forthright and bipartisan manner, Governor Romney will work with Congress to find a bipartisan way to reform Social Security while opposing higher Social Security taxes.

- SOLUTION #2: Reining In Medicare Costs. To rein in Medicare costs, Governor Romney believes we need to fundamentally reform our health care system through free-market reforms. Meeting the Medicare challenge is going to require Republicans and Democrats becoming very serious about this issue and finding a bipartisan way to reform this entitlement program.

- SOLUTION #3: Promoting Innovation In Medicaid. Governor Romney will encourage innovation in Medicaid by block-granting federal funds to states and removing the burdensome administrative requirements that prevent them from improving the program and containing costs.

CHALLENGE #3: Fighting Looming Tax Hikes:

Governor Romney Will Lower Taxes On The American People. Lower taxes are the key to ensuring continued economic growth and job creation. However, our economy is threatened by looming tax hikes. Governor Romney has outlined the conservative solutions necessary to meet this challenge by:

- SOLUTION #1: Making The Bush Tax Cuts Permanent. Making the Bush Tax Cuts permanent is the first step to ensuring that Americans are able to keep more of their hard-earned money.

- SOLUTION #2: Rolling Back Tax Rates For All Americans. As President, Governor Romney will cut marginal tax rates across the board, allowing all Americans to save more money.

- SOLUTION #3: Making Middle Class Savings Tax Free. Governor Romney's plan will allow middle class Americans to save tax free by changing the tax rate on interest, capital gains and dividends to absolutely 0%.

- SOLUTION #4: Killing The Death Tax. It is unfair to tax the American people three times: once when they earn their money; second when they invest it and receive income from those investments; and third when they die.

- SOLUTION #5: Lowering The Corporate Tax Rate. The United States has the second highest corporate tax rate in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. We cannot afford to have a tax rate that is out of alignment with the other major economies of the world.

- SOLUTION #6: Preventing The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) From Hurting More American Families. At the very least, Congress must pass a patch to the AMT that will prevent this tax from affecting more and more families in America.

CHALLENGE #4: Competing In The Global Economy:

Governor Romney Will Maintain America's Competitiveness In The Global Economy. Governor Romney will work to ensure that America's economy, businesses and workers have the tools they need to compete against foreign competitors. Governor Romney has outlined the conservative solutions necessary to meet this challenge by:

- SOLUTION #1: Launching A "Reagan Zone Of Economic Freedom" Among Nations Committed To High Standards and Enforcement: Governor Romney will seek to bring together nations committed to open markets and playing by the rules in the largest ever Free Trade Area, and go beyond traditional trade to promote high standards in areas critical to U.S. competitiveness.

- SOLUTION #2: Concluding Existing Negotiations, Like The Doha Round, To Benefit America. The Doha Round and free trade agreements can be huge opportunities for America if we ensure no unilateral disarmament on agriculture and demand strong benefits for U.S. farmers and goods and services producers.

- SOLUTION #3: Expanding Enforcement And New Frontiers Of U.S. Competitiveness. Governor Romney's vision for expanding trade includes stronger enforcement efforts, multilateral efforts to stop currency manipulation, action against intellectual property rights theft, negotiations to open markets for services, and building food, safety and other standards to protect Americans.

- SOLUTION #4: Giving The President Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) To Open Markets For America. We cannot afford to fall behind as China and others cut deals that hurt American exports and jobs.

- SOLUTION #5: Creating Worker Empowerment And Training Accounts. These self-managed accounts will give workers the opportunity to take control of their own futures by getting the training and education they need to succeed in the new economy.

- SOLUTION #6: Streamlining And Enhancing Access To Worker Training And Educational Programs. Governor Romney will initiate an audit of all existing worker training and educational programs to ensure that workers are being helped most efficiently, while eliminating duplicative spending and minimizing bureaucratic overhead.

- SOLUTION #7: Lowering The Corporate Tax Rate. America cannot afford to have the second highest corporate tax rate in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

- SOLUTION #8: Providing Employers With Regulatory Relief. As President, Governor Romney will eliminate cumbersome and unnecessary regulations and bureaucracies that hinder economic growth and job creation. One of these regulations that must be pruned is Sarbanes-Oxley.

- SOLUTION #9: Implementing National Tort Reform. Governor Romney believes we must enact common sense tort reform at the federal level to make the system fairer and more predictable for both companies and the general public.

- SOLUTION #10: Strengthening Our Education System. As President, Governor Romney will emphasize math and science education, while promoting innovative approaches such as charter schools and public-private partnerships, to ensure that our workers have the intellectual capital and skills to compete in the 21st century economy.

- SOLUTION #11: Reforming Our Immigration System. We must encourage legal immigration and streamline the system to recruit and retain high-skilled workers and welcome the best and the brightest from around the world to our universities.

- SOLUTION #12: Investing In Building And Repairing The Nation's Transportation Infrastructure. We need to invest in infrastructure projects critical to the national economy and the flow of goods and people, instead of funding home-district pork.

CHALLENGE #5: Making America Energy Independent:

Governor Romney Will Work To Make America Energy Independent. Energy costs that put pressure on household finances are a major concern for families. With nearly 60 percent of our oil coming from abroad, we must become energy independent. Governor Romney has outlined the conservative solutions necessary to meet this challenge by:

- SOLUTION #1: Making Energy Independence A Top Administration Priority. Because energy independence is crucial to our economy and national security, Governor Romney will make it a top administration priority to become energy independent.

- SOLUTION #2: Expanding Investment In Research, Development, And Demonstration Projects. This investment will encourage the commercialization of alternative energy.

- SOLUTION #3: Increasing Domestic Production, Including Renewable Sources, Biodiesel, Solar And Wind. Governor Romney will pursue our domestic sources of energy, drawing from our broad and diverse base of options, including opening ANWR.

- SOLUTION #4: Increasing Focus On Energy Security. Governor Romney will shift federal priorities to emphasize issues of energy security, particularly at the Department of Energy.

- SOLUTION #5: Promoting Nuclear Technology. Governor Romney will accelerate the construction of new nuclear power plants in order to ensure that nuclear power continues to be a part of a robust, cleaner and more reliable energy mix.

CHALLENGE #6: Ending Illegal Immigration:

Governor Romney Will Reform America's Immigration System. Governor Romney believes we must reform our immigration laws so that we can end illegal immigration. America will always welcome legal immigration, but as a nation we also insist on the rule of law. Governor Romney has outlined the solutions necessary to meet this challenge by:

- SOLUTION #1: Securing The Border. Governor Romney will follow through on the Congressional commitment to build a physical and technological fence along the border, and secure other points of entry throughout the country. He will also increase border control enforcement and resources.

- SOLUTION #2: Implementing A Mandatory, Enforceable Employer Verification System. Governor Romney will issue a biometrically-enabled and tamper-proof card to non-citizens and create a national database so employers can easily verify the legal status of non-citizens in this country. Employers will be held accountable for hiring illegal immigrants.

- SOLUTION #3: Rejecting Amnesty. Governor Romney opposes amnesty or any special path to citizenship. He opposed each version of the McCain-Kennedy legislation as the wrong approach and a form of amnesty. Amnesty did not work 20 years ago, and it will not work today.

- SOLUTION #4: Ending The Magnet Of "Sanctuary Cities." Governor Romney will cut back federal funding to cities that are "sanctuaries" for illegal immigrants and refuse to comply with federal law or aid federal law enforcement.

- SOLUTION #5: Improving Interior Enforcement. Governor Romney will provide additional resources to enforce existing immigration laws throughout the nation. We cannot be serious about our immigration laws until we provide the resources needed to enforce them. Governor Romney supports the Administration's steps to strengthen the enforcement of our current immigration laws.

- SOLUTION #6: Encouraging Legal Immigration. Governor Romney will streamline the visa system to recruit and retain skilled workers in high demand by U.S. companies. He will also welcome the best and the brightest from around the world to our universities.