Walker slams DC culture during visit

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) ripped Washington’s political culture during a visit to the nation’s capital on Friday, slamming the very city he could seek to come to in 2016. 

Speaking at the offices of the American Action Forum just blocks from the White House, Walker called for a “transfer of power… back to the states, to the cities,” where “the people can actually hold our government accountable.”

{mosads}Walker, whose political stock is way up after a strong week, described the city as “68 square miles surrounded by reality” with a “top down” mentality. He argued that voters have a “craving for something new, something fresh, something dynamic … something that’s built up with big bold ideas.”

The governor is framing himself as a younger state-based innovator, contrasting his record with Washington politicians as well as some of the older faces likely to run against him in the GOP presidential primary.

Walker spent much of his speech — and a subsequent question and answer session with AAF’s cofounders, top GOP donor and kingmaker Fred Malek and former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin — discussing his economic record in Wisconsin, highlighting accomplishments beyond his fight against unions in the state.

“We won not only elections, but more importantly, we won on policy,” he said, touting tax and education reform and cuts to government spending. Walker won three elections in the blue state, surviving a recall effort against him in 2012. 

“We’ve seen tremendous turnaround when it comes to the economy of our state,” he continued.

Walker referred to welfare programs as “a net you bounce out of, not a hammock you stay in,” and promised that in his upcoming budget he’ll include drug test requirements for people to be eligible for welfare programs.

He fired back against the “false choice” that ObamaCare offered the states for Medicaid expansion, pointing to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation’s findings that Wisconsin was the only state in the nation that didn’t take expand Medicaid under ObamaCare that has no insurance gap.

“We’ve tried to find commonsense conservative reforms that work, and that’s a good example,” he said. “Do that more. Put more power in the states.”

Walker also talked up his blue-collar roots, mentioning that he washed dishes to help pay for college, before talking up his plan to create middle-class jobs in manufacturing and energy.  

This post was updated at 3:37 p.m.