COLUMBUS, Ohio — President Barack Obama drew a sharp line with Republican Mitt Romney on education Tuesday, telling Ohio voters that “putting a college education within reach for working families doesn’t seem to be a priority” for his opponent.
Obama quoted his Republican challenger’s assertion that the best option for students trying to find an affordable education is to “shop around.”
“That’s his answer for a young person hoping to go to college — shop around, borrow money from your parents if you have to — but if they don’t have it, you’re on your own,” Obama said in prepared remarks ahead of a planned campaign stop Tuesday afternoon.
The president was expected to point to the budget plan put forward by Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, as he tries to paint the GOP ticket as too extreme for the nation. He plans to criticize Ryan’s budget proposal for cutting $115 billion from the Education Department, removing 2 million children from Head Start programs and costing 1 million college students their Pell Grants over the next decade. The push will be coupled with television ads.
Obama was appearing at Capital University in Columbus and campaigning later in the day at a community college in Reno, Nev.
Ryan is Tuesday’s public face of the GOP ticket, with two planned stops in Pennsylvania. Romney was raising money behind closed doors in Louisiana and Texas.
Ryan was holding a morning rally at a steel company in Carnegie and making an afternoon visit to the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center in West Chester. He then was set to fly to Virginia, a state Obama won in 2008 but which is looking more difficult this time around.
The campaign said Ryan would focus Tuesday on the Republican ticket’s plans for boosting small businesses. He also plans to address looming defense cuts, which are part of a deal brokered by Obama and congressional leaders of both parties. It was designed to force a deficit agreement, but Congress was unable to come up with a compromise.
Ryan will tell voters that the Republican ticket plans to reverse the defense cuts and replace them with “common sense reforms”, though the campaign provided no details on what those would entail.
Obama said Monday he doesn’t believe Congress can reach a deal before the November elections that avoids the cuts in military spending, but is he is optimistic that the reductions won’t occur.
Since Romney tapped Ryan as his running mate, Democrats have aggressively highlighted what Ryan’s budget would mean for Medicare. Ryan’s plan would allow those 55 and older to stay in the health care program for seniors as it is currently set up, but would also offer private alternatives for younger workers. That has left some voters skittish.
Students and their parents are the next group Obama hopes to put on notice. The president started radio ads in New Hampshire that claim 21,000 college students in that state would have their Pell Grants cut by $800 each. Another ad tells Ohio voters that 356,000 students would have their Pell Grants cut.
Obama quoted his Republican challenger’s assertion that the best option for students trying to find an affordable education is to “shop around.”
“That’s his answer for a young person hoping to go to college — shop around, borrow money from your parents if you have to — but if they don’t have it, you’re on your own,” Obama said in prepared remarks ahead of a planned campaign stop Tuesday afternoon.
The president was expected to point to the budget plan put forward by Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, as he tries to paint the GOP ticket as too extreme for the nation. He plans to criticize Ryan’s budget proposal for cutting $115 billion from the Education Department, removing 2 million children from Head Start programs and costing 1 million college students their Pell Grants over the next decade. The push will be coupled with television ads.
Obama was appearing at Capital University in Columbus and campaigning later in the day at a community college in Reno, Nev.
Ryan is Tuesday’s public face of the GOP ticket, with two planned stops in Pennsylvania. Romney was raising money behind closed doors in Louisiana and Texas.
Ryan was holding a morning rally at a steel company in Carnegie and making an afternoon visit to the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center in West Chester. He then was set to fly to Virginia, a state Obama won in 2008 but which is looking more difficult this time around.
The campaign said Ryan would focus Tuesday on the Republican ticket’s plans for boosting small businesses. He also plans to address looming defense cuts, which are part of a deal brokered by Obama and congressional leaders of both parties. It was designed to force a deficit agreement, but Congress was unable to come up with a compromise.
Ryan will tell voters that the Republican ticket plans to reverse the defense cuts and replace them with “common sense reforms”, though the campaign provided no details on what those would entail.
Obama said Monday he doesn’t believe Congress can reach a deal before the November elections that avoids the cuts in military spending, but is he is optimistic that the reductions won’t occur.
Since Romney tapped Ryan as his running mate, Democrats have aggressively highlighted what Ryan’s budget would mean for Medicare. Ryan’s plan would allow those 55 and older to stay in the health care program for seniors as it is currently set up, but would also offer private alternatives for younger workers. That has left some voters skittish.
Students and their parents are the next group Obama hopes to put on notice. The president started radio ads in New Hampshire that claim 21,000 college students in that state would have their Pell Grants cut by $800 each. Another ad tells Ohio voters that 356,000 students would have their Pell Grants cut.