The former Florida governor also said he’s going to implement tax policies similar to the Reagan era, hoping to make the government shrink and the economy grow.
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Bush plans to say in a speech in Tallahassee, Florida, that he wants to reduce US government debt, spark higher economic growth, cut spending and tackle other problems, such as the number of people on the federal payroll.
In his return to Tallahassee on Monday, Bush called for a balanced budget amendment, line-item veto power for the president, an overhaul of defense department procurements, a federal hiring freeze and an end to automatic “baseline” funding increases. Bush called McCain a “real hero”.
He said lawmakers should have to disclose on their websites when they meet with lobbyists, and members of the House of Representatives and Senate should have to wait six years before they can lobby their former colleagues. Before he ran for president he constantly urged other Republicans to offer up alternatives to Democratic-backed ideas like President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul instead of just opposing them.
“Promising a vision “on a scale we haven’t seen since the Reagan years”, the GOP presidential candidate said he’d announce tax and regulatory reform proposals over the “coming months”, as well as changes to entitlement programs and a replacement for ObamaCare”.
Also in attendance were longtime Republican political consultants Rich Heffley and Marc Reichelderfer, who made headlines recently after their emails were cited by the Florida Supreme Court as evidence the state’s congressional maps violated anti-gerrymandering provisions.
When Bush became governor in 1999, Republicans controlled both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s mansion for the first time in more than a century. That effort remains contentious 15 years after it was put in place.
“If the aim is to bring out the best in public servants, and to improve morale across the federal workforce, then we have to get the incentives right”. But overall state spending also rose during his administration.
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Former senators and congressmen often follow up time spent on Capitol Hill with stints as lobbyists, offering their network of contacts and considerable influence to business groups looking to influence the legislative process. One of Bush’s top advisers, Sally Bradshaw, is married to the founder of one of Tallahassee’s most successful lobbying firms. Rubio was also scheduled to be in New Hampshire Monday, but canceled due to illness.
