By Matt Viser, Globe Staff
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. ? Mitt Romney this afternoon called for a reduction in corporate taxes, an immediate $20 billion in federal budget cuts, and a plan that would convert Medicaid into a federal block grant program that would be administered by the states.
In a major policy address at a truck dealership here, the Republican presidential contender offered his most detailed prescription for the economy as he seeks to cast himself as the one with the business skills to nurse the country?s ailing economy back to life.
He is also attempting to set the tone for the conversation during a major GOP debate tomorrow night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., and just two days before President Obama makes a speech on the economy before a joint session of Congress.
?We should have a job-creating machine in America,? Romney said. ?Growth is the answer. Not government.?
Waving an iPhone, he declared: ?President Obama?s strategy is a pay-phone strategy in a smart-phone world.?
One rival, Texas Governor Rick Perry, countered almost immediately, blasting Romney?s effort to cast himself as the jobs candidate.
?As Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney failed to create a pro-jobs environment and failed to institute many of the reforms he now claims to support,? Perry spokesman Mark Miner said about an hour after Romney finished his speech. ?Governor Perry has the strongest pro-jobs record and best philosophy to get America working again.?
Romney?s plan, outlined in a 160-page book distributed ahead of his speech, proposes significantly expanding areas available to energy companies, including drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and the Outer Continental Shelf. He would also attempt to severely limit any new federal regulations by not providing new funding for implementation.
The plan can be found here.
If elected, Romney says he would submit a jobs package on his first day in office consisting of five proposals. That legislation would reduce the corporate income tax rate to 25 percent; implement free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama, and South Korea; and direct the Department of the Interior to work with energy companies to survey energy reserves and lease all areas currently approved for exploration.
He would also immediately cut non-defense spending by 5 percent, reducing the federal budget by $20 billion. He would also cap spending at 20 percent of the country?s Gross Domestic Product.
Romney also reiterated that he would work to repeal Obama?s health care law, as well as the ?Dodd-Frank? Wall Street reform law co-authored by US Representative Barney Frank of Newton.
Romney would also restructure the tax code, eliminating the so-called estate taxes on inheritances, as well as taxes on interest, dividends, and capital gains for low- and middle-income taxpayers. His plan does not offer a specific plan on the marginal income tax rate, saying only that he would ?explore opportunities? to lower it.
The former Massachusetts governor has generally taken a low-key approach to campaigning, but much of that shifted today for what his campaign viewed as one of the most important speeches yet. In contrast to a speech he gave on health care four months ago ? delivered in a dark lecture hall at the University of Michigan ? today?s speech was high on stagecraft.
He appeared on a bright stage, surrounded by seven giant trucks, an American flag painted on metal cages, and a large banner that read, ?Day One, Job One.? His campaign distributed paperback books for the occasion that were titled, ?Believe in America: Mitt Romney?s Plan for Jobs and Economic Growth.? Romney took the stage to the upstage country music of Alabama?s ?Roll On.?
Romney also boasted that he was speaking without a TelePrompTer, as Obama often does, and instead referring to some scribbled notes on a legal pad.
Romney?s attempt to cast himself as an economic maestro is already become a focal point from his Republican opponents, who are criticizing his record and promoting their own.
Perry, who has immediately surged to the top of the polls despite announcing his candidacy less than four weeks ago, has been touting his performance in Texas.
As an indication of the further perils for Romney, another one of his rivals today began challenging the former governor and his record as a job-creator in Massachusetts. Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman ? in an ad called ?#1 vs. #47? ? sought to draw attention to the Bay State?s poor ranking as a job creating state during Romney?s four year term.
The ad doesn?t mention Romney by name, but says, ?Another governor led Massachusetts, led them close to the very bottom.? It called Romney?s ?one of the saddest records? and called it ?sadly similar to that of Obama?s.?
Romney also announced his economic policy team today, which consists of R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School who was chairman of President Bush?s council of economic advisers from 2001 to 2003; Gregory Mankiw, an economics professor at Harvard University who was chairman of President Bush?s council of economic advisers from 2003 to 2005; former Senator Jim Talent, of Missouri; and former Representative Vin Weber, of Minnesota.
Each member of the quartet has been active in Romney?s circle previously, although Weber had been a top adviser to former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty?s presidential campaign until it was suspended last month
