House Budget Committee chairman Jim Nussle, a candidate for governor, is using a video to connect with Iowans while he’s at work in D.C. Like former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole had to do during his 1996 presidential campaign, Nussle is “speaking” to many Iowa crowds via videotape because his congressional duties often keep him in Washington.
The video features clips from campaign commercials of the past, as well as audio from Nussle’s announcement speech this past June. Nussle’s role as budget committee chairman is keeping him busy, and also opening him to criticism. Critics say the budget cuts Republicans like Nussle propose are clipping programs for poor Americans while ensuring the tax cuts for America’s wealthiest citizens remain intact. Nussle says those tax cuts are helping fuel the economy, and he’s not going to divert from the G-O-P’s course.
“I understand that if you reduce spending, you get attacked. If you increase spending, you get attacked,” Nussle says. “I think the lesson here is that when you’re the budget chairman, you just get attacked.”
Nussle says there’s room for improvement, and paring, in every area of the federal government’s budget.Nussle says many of the programs for America’s “most vulnerable” citizens haven’t been “reformed” since the early 1980s.