MANCHESTER, N.H. -- While offering advice to the debt reduction so-called "supercommittee," Mitt Romney gave business leaders here his basic first steps to reduce the size of the federal government.
He said he is "not. . . optimistic" that the committee tasked with recommending deficit reductions will will meet their deadline of next week. If the panel cuts military spending, or if the automatic cuts to military spending kick in with the committee's indecision, he would work to restore those cuts if elected president.
The former Massachusetts governor spoke at a chamber of commerce event at a downtown law firm here, and he skirted questions from reporters, including those about computer drives which his gubernatorial staff either erased or brought with them when turning over the office. The move eliminated from public information requests a significant electronic paper trail of how Romney and aides governed.
The former Massachusetts governor spoke at a chamber of commerce event at a downtown law firm here, and he skirted questions from reporters, including those about computer drives which his gubernatorial staff either erased or brought with them when turning over the office. The move eliminated from public information requests a significant electronic paper trail of how Romney and aides governed.
Reporters waited for him to emerge from what were apparently private meetings, but staff at the Devine Millimet law office shooed reporters out of the building. "If he is still here, he's not going to come out this way," the staffer told this reporter.
Romney said earlier in the day that his administration had done nothing illegally, and the drives which were not erased were apparently purchased by the staffers, but he did not go into any more depth, according to reports.
But the controversy did not come up in his remarks to the chamber of commerce members, where he decried the work of the bipartisan congressional committee negotiating deficit reduction, saying the country had been "fed a Faustian bargain."
"What I would like to see is people on the supercommittee eliminate some of the programs we don't need," he said, citing the Affordable Care Act health care reform -- "Obamacare" -- specifically.
He said the health care reform, and other acts passed under the administration of President Barack Obama, have slowed economic recovery. The Supreme Court has agreed to accept a challenge to the health care law, and Romney says that if the high court does not strike it down, or invalidates only certain portions of it, then he will will spearhead repeal.
Citing the Obama administration's policies, he said, "Those decisions have made it harder for the economy to reboot, and by virtue of that, we have people out of work who don't need to be out of work."
He pledged to take a tough line on Chinese deflation of their currency, arguing that tariffs on traded goods would compensate for U.S. consumers' losses and disincentivise the country's currency manipulation.
"I'm concerned about China because they don't play by the rules," he said. "And I'm not willing to continue to play on the same basis with people who aren't playing by the rules they agreed to."
He also criticized banking reforms which he says prevent small banks from lending to small businesses.
Romney continues to campaign in New Hampshire for the weekend, holding at least one event daily through Monday.
He pledged to take a tough line on Chinese deflation of their currency, arguing that tariffs on traded goods would compensate for U.S. consumers' losses and disincentivise the country's currency manipulation.
"I'm concerned about China because they don't play by the rules," he said. "And I'm not willing to continue to play on the same basis with people who aren't playing by the rules they agreed to."
He also criticized banking reforms which he says prevent small banks from lending to small businesses.
Romney continues to campaign in New Hampshire for the weekend, holding at least one event daily through Monday.
