RELEASE: Governor Romney's address to the 2009 Values Voters Summit
Governor Romney today delivered a speech to the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C. Following are excerpts from the speech:
Romney on President Obama's first eight months in office:
“I'll bet you never dreamed you’d look back at Jimmy Carter as the good old days."
Romney calls massive new levels of debt "morally wrong" and proposes revisiting the stimulus to repeal unnecessary spending:
“Putting such a spirit-crushing, back-breaking debt burden on our children is unworthy of our national character. That is why I believe that this spending and borrowing is not just economically irresponsible, it is morally wrong.
To strengthen the economy and to create jobs, the President must stop trying to borrow this country out of a debt problem. I know there are people who are now talking about another stimulus bill for the economy. That’s the wrong answer. The right answer is to fix the stimulus we have—throw out the liberal, big-government programs and substitute incentives that will stimulate the private sector and actually create jobs. Don’t repeat the stimulus, repair the stimulus!"
Romney says Obama missed an opportunity in his speech to schoolkids to warn young people to marry before they have children:
"I for one was not unhappy that the President chose to address our schoolchildren. The Heritage Foundation, in a January letter to the President, reminded him that he is in a unique position to help our children keep from making a critical and life-altering mistake. And that is having children before they are married. Forty percent of all children are now born out-of-wedlock. Of course, there are wonderful single parents who do a heroic job raising children in difficult circumstances. But for the nation as a whole, we raise a stronger generation when they are raised by a Mom and a Dad."
Romney says reforming healthcare is a "good idea" but that the answer is not a new government insurance program:
"I think we can all agree that it is a good idea to reform healthcare. Healthier Americans will make a stronger nation. Insurance companies shouldn’t drop people when they get sick.
We need to help people with pre-existing conditions. I think insurance should be portable and affordable. Republicans have proposed several healthcare reform bills. And this Republican worked to reform healthcare in my own state. Not every feature of our plan is perfect, but the lesson it teaches is this: we can get everyone insured, without breaking the bank and without a government option—there is no government insurance in my Massachusetts reform. The right answer for health care is not more government, it’s less government."
(Click on the title for a link to the entire speech)
