(Urbandale, IA) Speaker John Boehner campaigned for David Young, Republican candidate in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, at the Republican Party of Iowa Victory Headquarters on Sunday afternoon. He was accompanied by Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, and outgoing Congressman Tom Latham (R-Iowa).
Boehner said that he hated to see Latham go and that he was in Iowa to make sure that David Young was Latham’s replacement. “He is the real thing. He has been around the block. He knows how the process works,” Boehner said of Young. “When you talk to him you know that this is one solid guy. If you want to talk to me about what I need most in Washington. I need some solid people. Solid people who will stand up and be counted when the time comes. When the tough votes are there. David will be one of those guys who will do it.”
“This is day 25 of a 33 day trip,” Boehner added. “I am here because we can win. There are a lot of places I could be today, but I am here because this is a race that we can win. This is a race that we are ahead in today, and a race where we just got to keep working right until the finish.”
He turned his attention to the Obama administration and criticized them over the stagnant economy.
“When you look at the President’s failed economic policies from Obamacare to the Dodd-Frank financial services law to untamed bureaucracies in Washington writing every rule and regulation you can understand why over the last 25 days I have heard the same thing – over and over and over and over – ‘where are the jobs?'” Boehner stated. “The are not a lot of new jobs and people who have jobs are not seeing their wages grow and they are being squeezed by this economy because they are paying a lot for food and they are paying a lot more for health care yet there is no increase in their salaries. The policies are not working, it is time for a new path.”
Boehner attacked Obama’s foreign policy citing the President’s apology tour in Europe and the Middle East. “The manifestation of the apology tour is what we are seeing today. You look at the crisis going on over in the Ukraine. Does anyone believe that Vladimir Putin would have marched int o Ukraine, into Crimea if George W. Bush had been President? Even Putin is smart enough to know that Bush would have punched him in the nose,” he said. “The world wants us to lead and the world wants us to be strong. When we are not leading and we are not strong all of the goofballs around the world think they’ve got an opportunity to go out there and poach.”
Boehner reminded those present that it was over a year ago that he insisted that the Obama administration develop a plan to address terrorism in the Middle East. He said it took President Obama three weeks to finally say ISIS needed to be destroyed. He said that the coalition of 60 countries that the Obama administration has put together to address ISIS have not put anything forward. Boehner stated said that they are waiting to see what the Obama administration would is really serious about destroying ISIS or not, and there is little faith that the President’s strategy would even work.
He also criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). “What you may not know is that we have 400 bills that have passed the House – almost all of them in a bipartisan basis sitting in the United States Senate. Republicans have been listening to the American people and we have been following their will and they want us to focus on the economy. Over 40 of these bills would directly affect the economy, help create more jobs and better salaries here in America. Thirty-five of these bills out of the 400 were sponsored by Democrats sitting on Harry Reid’s desk.” Boehner said. “The President wants to talk a lot about his pen and his phone. I wish the President would pick up his phone and call Harry Reid and get the United States Senate off their duff.”
Watch Speaker Boehner’s remarks below.
Watch Congressman Tom Latham’s remarks.
Watch David Young’s remarks.
Watch Jeff Kaufmann’s remarks.