Remarks to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce 33rd Annual Convention in Los Angeles, California

Thanks.

Thank you so much, Hector, for that warm introduction and for all your help and support. And congratulations to Cristina as well. I'm —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: [off microphone]

MR. ROMNEY: Thank you. Good to be home. I've got a son here somewhere. There he is. Here's a son over there. [scattered applause] And a grandson, too. Have you got your son there with you? Yeah, my son and grandson. Hi, guys. [applause]

It's an honor to be your guest and to speak to you as we begin National Hispanic Heritage Month.

I'm also pleased to represent the party of Governor Susana Martinez, Governor Brian Sandoval, Governor Luis Fortuno, Senator Marco Rubio and the Texas Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Ted Cruz. [applause] These leaders are Republicans for the same reasons as millions of other Hispanics. They see that ours is the party of opportunity, the party that will restore America's prosperity.

Now, at our convention a few weeks ago, Governor Martinez described an experience that some of you may find familiar. At the beginning of her political career, she was a Democrat. And her star began to rise. And as it did so, she and her husband got an invitation to go to lunch with a couple Republicans. The words "Democrat" and "Republican" never came up. Instead, they talked about issues, not about party, such as how do we keep welfare from becoming a barrier to work, and how much government is needed before it becomes burdensome to families and small businesses. When the lunch was over, she turned to her husband and she said this: I'll be darned. We're Republicans. [laughter]

I love hearing stories like that. I'd like to hear more often. And I'm convinced that the Republican Party is the rightful home of Hispanic-Americans.

But my speech today isn't about my political party. It's about the country we love and the future we want to build.

During the course of the campaign, I've traveled across the country. I've seen people who've fallen into poverty, people who are living paycheck to paycheck, people who are tired of being tired.

Over 23 million Americans are out of work, underemployed or just have quit looking for jobs. The number of people on food stamps has risen by almost 15 million since President Obama took office. Median household income has fallen four years in a row.

Now, seeing such a poor jobs and income picture, the Federal Reserve has announced that it will once again print more money. The Fed knows that this comes with a high cost and risk for the future, but it feels it has no other choice. Our leaders in Washington have failed to produce a real recovery.

No one is exempt from the pain of this economy, of course, but the Hispanic community has been particularly hard-hit. While national unemployment is at 8.1 percent, Hispanic unemployment, as you know, is over 10 percent. Over 2 million more Hispanics are living in poverty today than the day President Obama took office. In 2008 candidate Obama promised us a world of limitless hope. What we got instead is a world where hope has painful limits, limits that make it harder to start a business, to grow a business or to find a job.

The administration promised us that its policies would have brought unemployment down to 5.4 percent by now. They haven't. Unemployment is still above 8 percent. And the difference between the 5.4 percent they promised and the 8 percent they delivered is 9 million more Americans not working, 9 million. I — I expected that the president, at his convention, would talk about the unemployed and unveil a jobs plan. Astonishingly, he didn't.

Now, I have a plan, and my plan for a stronger middle class will create 12 million jobs by the end of my first term, and it will raise take-home pay. My plan is premised on the conviction that it is freedom that drives our economy, that free people creating free enterprises is what creates good jobs with good wages. Government supports the job creators, but it cannot take their place.

Now, my plan, as you've heard, has five key steps. First, we'll take advantage of our oil, gas, coal, nuclear and renewables to achieve North American energy independence in eight years. That'll not only give us the affordable, reliable energy we need, it will also create nearly 4 million jobs, and it will bring manufacturing back to our country. [applause]

Second, we've got to give our fellow citizens the skills they need for the jobs of today, and we've got to give our kids the education they need for the careers of tomorrow. There are too many of our kids trapped in failing schools. As president, I'll ensure that every child from every background receives a quality education. I'll empower the — [applause] — I'll empower the parents of our low- income and special needs students to choose where their child goes to school.

Now, three, we'll make trade work for America by forging new trade agreements with nations that play by the rules. At the same time, we'll crack down on nations that don't. We can jump-start our economy by expanding trade with Latin America, and our nation's 3 million Hispanic-owned businesses will have the most to gain. President Obama has not initiated a single new trade agreement with Latin America. I will.

I'll also pursue a comprehensive strategy to confront China's unfair trade practices, and I'll do that from day one. [applause] Now, the president may think that announcing new trade lawsuits less than two months before the election will distract from his record. But American businesses and workers struggling on an uneven playing field know better. If I'd known that all it took to get him to take action was to run an ad citing his inaction on China's cheating, I'd have run one a long time ago.

Fourth, we have got to cut the deficit and put America on track to a balanced budget. [applause] I actually believe it's immoral for us to continue to spend more than we take in and to pass our debts on to our kids.

And I'd like to spend some time talking about this issue in particular. As businessmen and businesswomen, and as Hispanics, you understand the threat President Obama's spending poses in — for our future. Many Hispanics have sacrificed greatly to help build our country and our economy, and to leave for their children a brighter future. Today those sacrifices are being put at risk by a president who just can't stop spending. The president likes to claim he'll reduce the deficit by $4 trillion. What he doesn't go on to tell you is that he's including in that figure over 1 trillion of spending cuts that have already been put in place, or that he's counting deficit reduction for 12 years. Yeah, that's right. That includes five years after he leaves office, even if he were to be re- elected.

Under President Obama, federal spending peaked at 25 percent of the total economy. That's a level not seen since World War II. I propose to bring federal spending back to its historical levels, that around 20 percent of the economy, and cap it there. And I'll pursue a 5 percent cut in nonsecurity discretionary spending on my first day in office. It's time for a president who's committed to cutting spending and balancing the budget.

And I know how to do that. I've done it before. We balanced our budget in my business and at the Olympics and every year I was in my state. [applause]

I'm going to put the federal government on track to a balanced budget by eliminating programs — eliminating programs that are not absolutely essential and also cutting subsidies for things like Amtrak and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Legal Services Corporation and the National Endowment for the — endowments of the arts and humanities. I — I like some of those things, by the way, but we just can't afford them. In fact, my test for each program is this: Is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? And if not, I'll cut it off. [applause]

Now in addition, I'm going to send a number of programs that have been growing uncontrollably fast back to the states, where I'm going to limit their rate of growth to the rate of inflation or, in the case of Medicaid, to inflation plus 1 percent.

And finally, I'll look to sharply increase the productivity of Washington by reducing federal government employment by 10 percent through attrition, by combining agencies and departments to reduce the overhead, by cracking down on the $115 billion a year in improper payments in government programs — [applause] — and I'll also align government compensation with that in the private sector. You do those things that I just described and we reduce federal spending by about $500 billion a year by the end of my first term.

The president, I'm convinced, has put us on a road to Greece. I'll put us back on a road to a stronger America, one which stops spending more than we take in. [applause]

And now number five — and you'll find this of particular interest — to get this economy creating the jobs we need and more take-home pay, we have to champion in this country small business. [applause]

Look, I started a business myself. We began with 10 people. Today it employ — employs hundreds of people. Our business was investing to help turn around or grow or to start up other small businesses. Today over a hundred thousand people work at companies that we helped start — companies like, as you heard just a moment ago from Hector, Staples, Bright Horizons, The Sports Authority, Steel Dynamics.

Small businesses often grow into large businesses. You probably know this. Two-thirds of American jobs created over the last 15 years were created by small business.

Now I know small business, not because I studied it in school, but because I lived small business. And I know that small businesses are being crushed by President Obama's policies. Too often government regulators treat businesses like to the enemy, and they crush them with an avalanche of regulations. Big business can deal with that. Small business can't.

And then there are taxes. I met an entrepreneur in the electronics industry in St. Louis. He said that he and his son had gone through a calculation to determine how much they paid to the government in federal income taxes, payroll taxes, state income taxes, gasoline taxes, sales taxes and real estate taxes.

It amounted to over half of what their business earned. Over half. Now, you think about that. The likelihood of success in small business is not real high, and if you're lucky enough to be successful, the government wants to take more than half. No wonder business start-ups are at a 30-year low.

But the president has announced that he plans to raise the federal income tax on small businesses even more, from 35 percent to 40 percent. That will kill about 700,000 jobs. We need more jobs, not less. And a recent study concluded that my plan, which reduces the tax rate on small business, will instead create 7 million jobs.

And now let me talk for a moment about "Obamacare" and how it affects jobs. The Chamber of Commerce surveyed 1,300 of its members. It found that three-quarters of them said they're less likely to hire people because of "Obamacare." Yeah, I know that we need health care reform, but "Obamacare" is the wrong way to go about it. "Obamacare" is going to replace consumer choice with government choice, and it would cause health insurance premiums to skyrocket. And it's already depressing job creation.

I'm going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it with reforms that increase choice, slow down the runaway growth of insurance costs and that open the doors to more new jobs. Now, by the way — [applause].

Let me note, if we do those five things, if we take advantage of our energy resources in full and we fix our schools and we open more trade and we cut the deficit and we truly champion small business, our economy is going to come roaring back. We can do better than this lackluster economy. We can create 12 million jobs and rising take- home pay again.

Now, my confidence, by the way, comes from the entrepreneurs I've met across the country. We're in a room full of hard-working entrepreneurs right here. Martha de la Torre is here. In 1988, Martha co-founded El Clasificado, a Spanish-language weekly. Classified ads; now, there's a tough business. But Martha adapted with the times. She became an expert in search-engine marketing, and she turned Clasificado.com into an online powerhouse.

We're joined by another successful entrepreneur, Dorene Dominguez. Dorene oversees one of the nation's top construction management firms. She's been collecting so many awards for leadership this year that we're lucky she didn't have a conflict on her calendar today. [laughter]

Now, I happen to believe that entrepreneurs like Martha and Dorene are the future for America. I believe in them. I believe the credit for their work goes to them, not to the government. And I sure don't believe that the government should take more of what they earn away from them.

This is really at the heart of the difference between President Obama and my vision for the future of America's economy. He wants government to tax more and regulate more because he believes government can do a better job than you can. I believe in you. I believe you could do a better job than government. I believe — [applause]. I'm confident that you and your dreams and your freedoms will build a stronger future for all of us and for our children. This belief in free people and free enterprises is the American heritage. It's why, by the way, America has outperformed economically every other nation on earth.

Now finally, I want to say a word about immigration. Americans may disagree about how to fix our immigration system, but I think we can all agree it's broken.

For years Republicans and Democrats seem to have been more interested in playing politics with immigration than with actually fixing it.

Candidate Obama said that one of his highest priorities would be to fix immigration in his first year in office. Despite his party having majorities in both houses of Congress, supermajorities, the president never even offered up a bill. Like so many issues confronting our nation, when it comes to immigration, politics have been put ahead of people for far too long.

I will work with Republicans and Democrats to permanently fix our immigration system. We'll never achieve a legal immigration system that's fair and efficient if we don't first get control of our borders. I believe we can all agree that what we need are fair and enforceable immigration laws that will stem the flow of illegal immigration while strengthening legal immigration.

I want to make this system far more simple and transparent. You shouldn't have to hire lawyers to find out how to legally immigrate into the United States. [applause]

And by the way, I want to shift our diversity visas to instead bring together immediate family members, and I want to structure our temporary worker visa programs so that these meet the needs of our employers. And by the way, if someone gets an advanced degree, I want them to stay here. So I'd staple a green card to their diploma. [applause]

America's a nation of immigrants, and immigration is essential to our economic growth and prosperity. One million immigrants legally enter America every year, the largest number of any country in the world.

I like that. I want to preserve our heritage of robust legal immigration. And I want to make sure that those who abide by the law and wait in line to immigrate here and do so legally are not at a disadvantage.

That's why I oppose amnesty because amnesty will make it harder, not easier, to strengthen our legal immigration system. It's also why my administration will establish an employment verification system so that every business can know whether the people it hires are legally eligible for employment. If a business cheats, there will be strict penalties for that business.

Now, in the midst of a difficult re-election campaign, President Obama created what he calls a "stopgap measure" — those are his words — for children who were brought here illegally, through no fault of their own.

Instead of playing politics with these children, I will pursue permanent immigration reform, and I'll start by ensuring that those who serve in our military have the opportunity to become legal permanent residents of the country they fought to defend. [applause] Those who have risked their lives in defense of America have earned the right to make their life in America.

Now, I've — [applause] — I've spoken often about how proud I am of my father. He was born to American parents who were living in Mexico. When he was five, they left everything behind and started over again in the United States.

My — my dad grew up poor, but he believed in a country where the circumstances of one's birth were not a barrier to achievement, a place where hard work could turn dreams into reality. He went from selling paint out of the trunk of his car to becoming the chief executive of a great car company and ultimately to become the governor of the state of Michigan.

My wife, Ann's father, was a first-generation immigrant.

He ended up founding a successful manufacturing company that made components and equipment for ships for the United States Navy.

I know that many of you in this room have similar stories. That's the American story. It's a story that is told over and over and over again. It's the story of the American dream. The American dream is not gone. It's just been put a little further from reach. I know what it takes to bring it back, to have it inspire our children just as it inspired our fathers and mothers. They sacrificed so much so that we might have it as part of our lives. And now it's our turn, our responsibility to restore the opportunity and prosperity and dreams that have invigorated this nation from its beginning. And it is a responsibility we will fulfill together.

Thank you so very much. [applause] An honor to be with you, and God bless you and the United States of America. Thank you. [applause]