Haley Campaign Press Release - Ottumwa Courier: Haley Talks Foreign Policy, Government Spending in Moravia

By: Channing Rucks
Online here.

Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, charmed the crowd at Honey Creek Resort Friday night as she guns for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election.

With a speech emphasizing foreign policy, the national debt and veteran affairs, Haley pointed to her time as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations as an indicator of what kind of work she would do as the nation's Commander in Chief.

"I wanted countries to know what America was for and what America was against. I didn't care if they didn't like me, but I wanted them to respect America," she said. "So we pulled ourselves out of the Iran deal. We moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We passed the largest set of sanctions against a country in a generation with North Korea. But the biggest thing we did was we took the 'kick me' sign off of our back at the UN, and we were respected again."

Haley wants to continue her work in foreign policy and says that if she is elected president "we will no longer give money to countries that hate America."

Making a pivot from foreign aid to domestic spending, Haley addressed the $3.2 trillion national debt, laying blame not just at President Joe Biden's feet, but also at the feet of her fellow Republicans, condemning Congress members from both sides for what she refers to as "a spending addiction."

"I would love to tell you, 'Oh, Biden did that to us,' but I've always spoken in hard truths, and I'm going to do that with you today. Our Republicans did that to us, too," she said, pointing to COVID stimulus legislation, the expansion of programs like welfare, Medicaid, food stamps and earmarks as examples of bipartisan spending that contributes to the national debt.

Haley says that if elected president, she will go after COVID fraud and strictly enforce a national budget, touting her experience and "problem-solving" skills as an accountant.

"When it comes to the economy, let's claw back the $500 billion dollars of unspent COVID dollars that are out there," she said. "Instead of 87,000 IRS agents going after middle America, let's go after the hundreds of billions of dollars in COVID fraud that we know exists. If 8 percent of our budget is interest, quit borrowing. Cut up the credit cards. Republicans and Democrats have a spending addiction in [Washington] D.C."

"When I am president, we'll stop the spending, we'll stop the borrowing, we will eliminate the earmarks and I will veto any spending bill that doesn't take us back to pre-COVID levels," she added.

Haley went on to address the southern border with Mexico, saying that her administration would implement a "remain in Mexico" policy and focus its attention on providing support to the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"We will go back to the remain in Mexico policy because guess what? Nobody wants to remain in Mexico. We will make sure instead of 87,000 IRS agents, we'll put 25,000 Border Patrol and ICE agents on the ground and let them do their job," she said.

Haley made a very positive impression on Debbi King, 57, of Moulton, Iowa, who believes that Haley can "absolutely" be competitive against former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican Primary.

"She's amazing. I think that she just represented everything well ... I think she's got our whole table's vote tonight," King said.

Chris Muszuinsky, 52, of Unionville, Iowa, agreed with many of Haley's points but is less confident in her ability to compete.

"I liked the things she said," said Muszuinsky, who particularly appreciated Haley's points on education, national spending and border security, though he thinks "she's got some ground to make up," if she's going to win the nomination. He says Trump will be tough to compete against due to his "pretty commanding lead."