Republican Congressman Steve King says he was just joking when he said he planned to draft a bill that would repeal everything President Obama has signed into law.
“To quote Herman Cain, ‘Get a sense of humor,'” King said Friday to a crowd of business people. “I looked over there at Bill Shea of The Fort Dodge Messenger before I said that and I thought, ‘Now Bill will surely get this.'”
King made the remark about repealing every Obama-era law on Tuesday in Humboldt and King was asked about it Friday during an appearance before the Greater Des Moines Partnership.
“I come into this business and I see that every year that goes by the more high test this gets, the focused there are, the more millions of dollars that are poured into this — and by the way, the more dishonest and negative they get — there’s just almost no room yet to make any kind of a joke,” King said. “It’s like, ‘Well, we’re going to take everything you say seriously and then we’re going to imagine some things we think you must imagine and attack you for that.’ This world is — we just have to loosen up and my attitude is if people don’t like some of the humor that comes along with this, well, here’s some more.”
King faces Democratic challenger Christie Vilsack in November. Vilsack’s spokesman says while no one expects King – or any member of Congress — to agree with everything signed into law, King’s comments “only encourage the partisanship and gridlock that stands in the way of legislation like the Farm Bill and delay action that will strengthen our economy.”
About 60 people gathered for a Republican Party picnic in Humboldt on Tuesday night and on Friday King said he just wanted to end with a joke.
“You know, that’s all it was,” King said, “and I don’t think anybody can seriously think that I don’t think there’s a lot of good things that have been signed into law.”
King has been a vocal critic of the health care reform bill President Obama signed into law, but King told the crowd in Des Moines today that there are not enough Republicans in congress willing to cut off funding to implement the law. King also plans to file a lawsuit to try to block an Obama Administration policy that no longer will deport children of illegal immigrants who were brought here before they were 16, have lived in the U.S. at least five years, and who’ve completed high school or served in the military. Those young adults would be able to get a job without the threat of deportation.