Tim Scott: I'll fire FBI chief but won't cut Medicare or Social Security as president

COUNCIL BLUFFS — A Tim Scott presidency would be good news for Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries, but bad for current leadership at the FBI, the Republican presidential hopeful said in a town hall meeting here Friday.

Scott, a three-term U.S. senator from South Carolina, spoke in a packed back room at Barley's Bar & Grill after an introduction by U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, in a freewheeling question-and-answer session that touched on everything from Vladimir Putin to the future of cash currency.

Friday's event was Scott's second open to the public in Iowa since officially entering the presidential race, and it saw him put down several black-and-white policy promises. To a question about his plans for the solvency of Medicare, he said his administration would focus on cost efficiencies and paying for outcomes rather than by each procedure.

"So when I talk about quality control, that's something we have to target because we're going to reduce the costs and make sure we never, ever cut Medicare or Social Security benefits," Scott said. "… I will protect Social Security and Medicare for my own mother, and for you too."

On another question about the FBI, which is involved in several investigations of former President Donald Trump, Scott says he believes it's time to clean house.

"I think that the average person working in the rank and file of the FBI are good people," he said. "I think the actual leadership of the FBI should be fired. There is a culture that seeps down and distorts and destroys the integrity and competence of the American people, and that has to be uprooted."

Scott said he would move to dismiss all current political appointees at the FBI. The current FBI director is Christopher Wray, appointed to the role in 2017 by Trump.

Why choose Tim Scott over Donald Trump? Optimism, Scott says

Although Scott, who entered the race polling at about 2% according to a FiveThirtyEight average of national polls, has mostly avoided talking about the current frontrunners, one attendee told him that "I don't think we can stand four more years of Donald Trump" and asked Scott about how he plans to overtake the former president.

Scott ruefully acknowledged his current polling deficit but said he's confident he'll make up ground.

"I believe people are starving for a message of hope and optimism," he said, to applause. "What they won't allow is a hopeful, optimistic message that lacks conservative principles or a background. I got both!"

Scott said his goal is to present and champion conservative policies in a way that can draw others in rather than drive them away.

"I think you'll find you can have the same conservative policies, with the optimism that can persuade others to join the team, so our policies are the law of the land, rather than something we're yelling about from the outside looking in," he said. "That's what I offer, is a unique life story that reinforces: conservatism works."

Little focus yet on social issues

Although Feenstra introduced Scott as both a fiscal and social conservative, there was little discussion of the latter in the ensuing question and answer session.

Tonia Beck, a construction engineer from Council Bluffs, attended the town hall and said she liked Scott's demeanor and his positions on fiscal issues. Where she was left wanting more, she said, was his positions on women's rights, trans rights and abortion.

"I'd like to know his stance, and he didn't talk about that at all," Beck said. "Is he hard right, or is he more fair and equal?"

On abortion, Scott has indicated he would support a 15-week federal abortion ban and has praised a six-week abortion ban recently passed and blocked by a court in South Carolina. Iowa has a similar six-week ban also tied up in litigation.

Beck also said she found striking the lack of a wife or children supporting Scott in his announcement speech two weeks ago. The senator is unmarried.

"I feel good about where he is fiscally, I'd just like to know more about the rest," said Beck, who said she would vote for Ron DeSantis if the caucuses were held this weekend.

At roundtable, Tim Scott calls for border security before immigration reform

Friday's town hall came after Scott met with a group of restaurant owners. In a roundtable discussion, he said he's sympathetic to their desire to improve opportunities for immigrants to come and work in the United States — but any such reforms, he said, will have to wait until the southern border is secured.

Attending hospitality industry representatives told Scott a lack of workers is a constant drag on their businesses.

"The opportunity exists on the employer side," restauranteur and City Council member Chad Hannan said. "I would imagine if we pulled up all the open jobs, and we could fill them all right now, we'd be over hundreds between all the businesses involved in (this roundtable)."

Iowa Restaurant Association President Jessica Dunker mentioned a number of immigration policy changes that might help, including easing restrictions on asylum-seekers looking for work.

Scott said he's heard similar concerns from businesses in his own state and said there should be opportunities for people who want to come and work in America to do so.

"There's a crisis in the workforce, and to me a part of the solution of that crisis is going to a merit-based immigration system, for bringing, whether it's the blue-collar worker or a four-year degree person, we need the workforce of the future," he said.

More: Sen. Tim Scott ramps up Iowa presidential campaign operation, names key staffers

But he tied progress on that issue to what he called a "crisis beyond comprehension" at the southern border, citing the influx of people and drugs entering the country through Mexico.

"I think we can solve it," Scott said. "First, it requires us solving the southern border, but once we do that, then we have to have a conversation … how we figure out that front-door access to the merit-based system that is a marvel of the world."

Scott, who is also hosting a public town hall Friday in Council Bluffs, was asked by reporters after to respond to recent statements by former President Donald Trump, who said he has "total support" from Iowa faith leaders.

More: Donald Trump says 'there's no way we lose Iowa' as he bashes Ron DeSantis in Des Moines

Scott, who has made his own faith a central part of his message to voters, said he believes he has "a lot in common" with the pastors he meets with throughout the state.

"What my faith instructs me to do is not to preach at people. Most people would rather see a sermon than hear a sermon," Scott said. "So I have great confidence that the faith community is still wide open making their decisions about the future of the presidency of this country."

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tim Scott in Iowa says he would fire FBI chief if elected president