Education reform, debt solutions: Vivek Ramaswamy’s major policy pitches to NH voters

EXETER, N.H. — GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is leaning on one major message in his pitch to New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary voters: the need to revive a common U.S. national identity.

“We don’t have to be a nation in decline,” Ramaswamy said at a Republican presidential town hall hosted by the USA TODAY Network, comparing the U.S. to a teenager. “We are just a little young, going through our own version of adolescence, figuring out who we’re really going to be when we grow up.”

Ramaswamy, who officially filed Wednesday to appear on the Granite State’s Republican primary ballot, argued that half the job of the next U.S. president is to lead the the country out of its ongoing culture wars. The other half, he suggested, will be to steer the policy agenda in Washington.

So what is the 38-year-old political newcomers vision for America's future? During the Exeter, New Hampshire town hall, Ramaswamy laid out his policy priorities to reduce the federal deficit, support Israel and counter China. Here's how his pitch impacts Americans across the country.

Eliminating federal agencies

If elected, Ramaswamy told voters that he plans to shut down some major U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Education.

"There are certain people, good people, in this race, that will favor incremental reform of the federal government and the bureaucracy," he said. "I'm not in that camp. I favor quantum leap change. I don't believe it is possible to incrementally reform agencies that have existed for a long time."

Echoing a common Republican talking point, Ramaswamy argued that education decisions should be put in the hands of parents. He said he’d opt to send the department's $80 billion in funding back to taxpayers to “economically empower” them to choose a school for their children.

“My view is we have a fourth branch of government that is unconstitutional,” Ramaswamy told voters. “The correct answer is shut it down and give the power and the money back to the people.”

Balancing the budget

To reduce the $33 trillion in U.S. debt, Ramaswamy floated a zero-based budgeting approach.

When drafting the annual federal budget, Ramaswamy said he’d “start with zero as the baseline and then ask what’s actually necessary,” rather than referring to the previous year’s budget as a jumping-off point.

The same tactic was adopted by former President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s but was not found to reduce costs and was later abandoned by former President Ronald Reagan.

Defending Israel

With tensions rising in the war between Israel and Hamas, Ramaswamy last week defended Israel’s right to protect its homeland but cautioned that, as president, he would put American interests at the center of his foreign policy agenda.

“We have to provide Israel with diplomatic support, munitions support as needed and further even provide them with intelligence sharing,” Ramaswamy told voters gathered at the Exeter town hall.

Ramaswamy called for providing the support in a way that “avoids broader regional conflict in the Middle East.” The perspective is largely shaped by his views on prior U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“The Taliban is still in charge in Afghanistan 20 years later and frankly (there is) a hostile anti-American regime in Iraq that's vulnerable to Iranian incursion,” Ramaswamy said. “That didn't advance American interests and we have to own up to that."

Reopening Russian relations

On Ukraine’s war front with Russia, Ramaswamy expressed support for a “reasonable path to peace,” but did not define his views on what that might entail. Previously, the biotech entrepreneur has proposed allowing Russia to keep the Donbas region and requiring Ukraine to concede its attempts to join NATO.

Describing Vladimir Putin as a “craven dictator,” Ramaswamy told voters in New Hampshire that “just because Russia is bad doesn’t mean Ukraine is good or perfect.”

He called for reopening relations between the U.S. and Russia and said that such an alliance would help counter China.

“Do I trust Putin? No. But I do trust him to follow his self-interest,” Ramaswamy told voters. “China’s top bet right now is that the U.S. won’t want to go to war with two allied superpowers at the same time. But if Russia’s no longer in China’s camp then Xi Jinping is going to actually have to think twice.”

Other Republican presidential candidates have fiercely criticized Ramaswamy’s foreign policy stances. During a confrontation at the first GOP debate, for instance, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley admonished Ramaswamy for his inexperience.

“You want to go and defund Israel, you want to give Taiwan to China. You want to go and give Ukraine to Russia,” she said. “Under your watch, you will make America less safe.”

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Vivek Ramaswamy discusses China, education in NH campaign stop