Walker: More government 'not the answer'

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MADISON, Wis., June 16 (UPI) -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Saturday said "more government is not the answer" to fostering economic growth.

The Republican governor who survived a recent recall attempt made the comments during the weekly Republican party address.

"Sadly, the president and many of his allies seem to measure success by how many people are dependent on government programs," Walker said. "Those policies have failed. In contrast, I and many other Republicans define success in just the opposite way -- by how many people we can free from government dependence by growing the private sector.

"Now, that doesn't mean we want to throw folks off of unemployment. Instead, we want people no longer dependent on government because they have a job. When more of our fellow citizens have work in the private sector, there will be more freedom and more prosperity in our country. That's a good thing ... a very good thing."

Walker said Wisconsin "made the tough decisions to tackle our economic and fiscal crises. Now it is time to do the same for America."

In the three years before he took office, Wisconsin had lost 100,000 jobs and unemployment was above 9 percent, he said.

Today, Walker said, the state has a budget surplus, has gained more than 41,000 private-sector jobs and the unemployment rate is below 7 percent.

Walker had pushed to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights, leading to the recall election.

He credited former President Ronald Reagan with helping turn around the economy 30 years ago and said: "We need that kind of bold leadership again today to get our fiscal house on track and to get our economy back in order. But more big government is not the answer as the president contends."