WITI:U.S. Senator Ron Johnson airs frustrations in one-on-one interview
Sen. Johnson says President Obama is legislating through regulation
Mike Low
Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson has been on the job for less than a year and has emerged as one of the senate's fiscal hawks. He says his goal for 2012 is to repeal the entire Obama agenda and tackle the nation's debt.
Sen. Johnson is in Wisconsin until the next senate session in September. He spoke to us about a variety of policy and political issues.
Mike Lowe: Senator, you have been in Washington for about eight months now and my sense is you're about as fond of the legislative process as Prince Fielder is of rice cakes. What is it about the way things are done in Washington that just frustrates the hell out of your?
Ron Johnson: Am I frustrated? Sure, but what I'm really frustrated by is how large government has become government, how intrusive it has become and truthfully how it's limiting and harming our ability to grow our economy; which is really what we need to do if we're going to get ourselves out of this financial mess we're in."
Mike Lowe: To a lot of people the vote to raise the debt ceiling should have been a no-brainer. Now, the credit worthiness of the United States has been called into question. The ability of the nation to pay its debts has been cast in doubt. At the end of the day was all the posturing worth it and how did it help improvise business conditions or the overall economy?
Ron Johnson: We're not providing very good leadership at this time.
Mike Lowe: You're making the case that President Obama is ill equipped to deal with our economic problems, why is that?
Ron Johnson: He has absolutely no experience in the private sector at all.
Mike Lowe: But the title is President of the United States, not CEO of America industries. The main goal of a corporation is to take a profit, a nation has many goals, not the last of which is to ensure the well being of all its citizens.
Ron Johnson: Well the number one priority of the federal government is the national defense, protecting our economic system. You know we need regulation, but we need effective regulation. And when you have a President who doesn't understand how the private sector operates, who doesn't understand how you create an attractive environment for job creation and business investment. Instead what he's doing is legislate through regulation.
