Fiorina touts economic plan in northern Iowa stops

WATERLOO, Ia. — Paul Higgins, of Waterloo, is about halfway through his paperback copy of the federal government’s 2016 appropriations bill.

He knows he could read the full bill online, but he carries around the unassuming paper copy so he can feel the weight and put an image to the government spending that upsets him so, he said Saturday afternoon.

“I worked in business for 30 years, and when the boss said take $2 million out of the budget, we did,” he said. “It wasn’t an argument, really. If we needed money, we managed the money right so we’d have it. Our government doesn’t do that.

“Carly Fiorina will make them do that,” he added.

The first two points on the Republican presidential candidate’s blueprint to “take our government back” are based on “controlling the money,” she said. The first point is to condense the tax code down to three pages and the second is to move to “zero-based budgeting.”

“Zero-based budgeting is a fancy term for how you and I budget,” she said at the Cabin Coffee Co. in Mason City. “It means you can examine any dollar, you can cut any dollar and you can move any dollar.”

“All the government does now is discuss the rate of increase,” she explained, adding that federal departments don't have to justify every dollar in their budget. Instead, they justify how much more they need, she said.

Gene Watson, 73, of Mason City, who said he was a former employee of the Social Security Administration, said getting spending under control is his main voting issue this election cycle.

“Zero-based budgeting is the only way we will have a chance of cutting the government's budget down,” he said. “It is the only way of saying, hey, you have to look at every single thing.”

“You have to change the system entirely,” he added. “If you don’t change the system, the problem won't go away.”

At an evening event in Ames, Robert Christian Allen, 22, an Emerson College senior who is in town to "experience the caucus," said he is undecided, but appreciates Fiorina's economic policies.

"I like that she wants to run the government like a business," he said. "We need more accountability in government and I think her plan would provide for that."

AT THE EVENT

SETTING: Dining rooms of Steamboat Gardens in Waterloo and Cabin Coffee Co. in Mason City; a meeting room at Iowa State University's Scheman Center.

CROWD: Almost 150 packed in and around the booths of Steamboat Gardens; about 80 squeezed in at Cabin Coffee; and about 100 at ISU.

REACTION: Carly Fiorina received many applause breaks. Her largest laugh came for her line about one picture with her meaning she gets one vote. "It's only fair," she said. 

WHAT'S NEXT: Fiorina has a packed schedule leading up to caucus night. Check DesMoinesRegister.com/candidatetracker for more details.