Obama rips into Romney, Ryan on Medicare

DUBUQUE, Iowa, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- A campaigning President Obama in Iowa Wednesday slammed into presumptive Republican rival Mitt Romney on taxes and Medicare.

On his third day in the state, the president told a crowd in Dubuque, "The centerpiece of Governor Romney's economic plan is a new $5 trillion tax cut -- a lot of it going to the wealthiest Americans. Now, keep in mind, $5 trillion is a lot of money, even in Washington."

Obama told the enthusiastic crowd: "Governor Romney expects you to pay for it, expects middle-class families to pick up the tab. Governor Romney's tax plan would actually raise taxes on middle-class families by an average of $2,000 for families with children."

When an audience member shouted, "I don't have $2,000," Obama shot back, "You don't have $2,000 to spare. I didn't think so."

The president said of Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., "They want to turn Medicare into a voucher program.

"That means seniors would no longer have the guarantee of Medicare -- they'd get a voucher to buy private insurance. And because the voucher wouldn't keep up with costs, the plan authored by Governor Romney's running mate, Congressman Ryan, would force seniors to pay an extra $6,400 a year. And I assume they don't have it."

Obama contended, "My plan reduces the cost of Medicare by cracking down on fraud and waste and subsidies to insurance companies. Their plan makes seniors pay more so they can give another tax cut to millionaires and billionaires. That's the difference between our plans on Medicare."

On jobs, the president said, "Governor Romney likes to say, 'Well, you know what, I know how to fix the economy, because I've been in the private sector.' Well, it turns out that a lot of that experience was investing in companies that were called 'pioneers in outsourcing.'"

Obama was accompanied by first lady Michelle Obama, who teased him about having a pork chop and a beer earlier at the Iowa State Fair.