Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigned in Muscatine early this morning (Wednesday), and a woman in the crowd pressed Romney to explain which “bad parts” of President Obama’s health care reform law Romney would eliminate.
“What are the bad parts?” the woman asked.
Romney responded: “Well, ObamaCare.”
The woman pressed for “specifics” and Romney said: “I’m going to repeal all of ObamaCare, all of it, every single piece of it and then I’ll put back in place the things I think need to be there and the things I think need to be there are allowing individuals buy insurance on their own rather than buying it through their company. I think people should have the same tax break that companies get when they get insurance.”
Romney also spoke with an elderly man in Muscatine who worried the Social Security trust fund has been robbed.
“The obligations to your Social Security will be fully met. For anyone who’s retired or those that are near retirement, there’ll be no change in Social Security or Medicare,” Romney said. “For young people, why those are 20 and 25, the program will be changed to make sure it can be sustained forever and we don’t have to worry about it running out of money.”
About 300 people crowded into a Muscatine coffee shop before sunrise to hear Romney this morning. A local reporter asked Romney if Iowa’s Caucuses deserve to be first, as critics say the state’s Republican Party is out of sinc with the rest of the country.
“Iowa and New Hampshire are first in the nation,” Romney told the reporter. “They ought to remain first in the nation.”
Romney is due to speak in Clinton over the noon hour and he’ll be in North Liberty early this evening for a town hall meeting.
(Reporting in Muscatine by Phil Roberts)