Doyle takes aim at Romney during meeting with Pitt Dems

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Allegheny, said Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s budget will…

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Allegheny, spoke with the Pitt College Democrats Tuesday night about what budget cuts under a Romney administration would look like.

Cyrille Froncek | Staff Photographer

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Allegheny, said Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s budget will “put you back to a day in America you don’t remember” during a meeting with about 30 members of Pitt College Democrats.

Doyle, whose legislative district encompasses Pitt’s campus, said on Tuesday evening at the William Pitt Union that budget cuts proposed in Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s House budget cut taxes on the wealthiest members of society at the expense of Medicare recipients in the future.

“People under 55 are going to be put on a plan, if Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney have their way, where they will pick up the extra cost in Medicare when they turn 65,” Doyle said. “Right now, there’s a guarantee where the government guarantees that they’ll pick up 80 percent of the cost.”

Expanding his critique, Doyle said Romney’s boast of having a “revenue-neutral” budget was misleading, since savings disproportionately stemmed from elimination of tax deductions from working- and middle-class Americans.

“The loopholes to make [Romney’s budget] revenue neutral are going to be things the middle class get: mortgage interest deductions, state and local taxes and charitable contributions. These are all deductions of the middle class — they phase out after $200,000,” Doyle said.

But, Doyle said, Pennsylvania citizens are “starting to get” Romney’s plans for the middle class — especially after the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., two weeks ago. He added that prior to the convention, he felt the presidential race between Romney and President Barack Obama was “50 to 50.”

Emphasizing the importance of local Congressional elections, Doyle said members of Pitt College Democrats need to assist local Democrats such as Rep. Mark Critz, D-Cambria, whose district includes part of Allegheny County. Critz’s congressional race against Keith Rothfus is considered one of the most competitive House races in the nation.

“A lot races that a lot of people don’t think we can win today, we’re gonna end up winning,” Doyle said. “I saw it when I came in 1994. They said Democrats were going to lose 25 or 30 seats. We lost 50-some seats.”

Doyle attributed the Democrat’s newfound confidence to a lack of enthusiasm over Romney as well as a number of recent speech blunders. He specifically focused on a video that went viral Tuesday, in which Romney said he couldn’t convince the 47 percent of voters who will vote for Obama to “take responsibility for their lives.”

Doyle also said a victory for Obama could prompt congressional Republicans to work on a compromise regarding the federal budget. He added that House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio was handcuffed by tea party Republicans who demand steep cuts without any new revenue.

But more importantly, he said, a victory for Obama could temper enthusiasm by Republican voters nationwide, leading to a Democratic takeover of the House and retention of the Senate.

“We got them right where we want them if we can get the president re-elected, and also if we can knock down some of these tea party guys that Boehner’s so afraid of,” Doyle said.

With momentum in hand, Doyle said national Democrats are no longer afraid to tout Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act anymore, saying their confidence was put on display at the Convention.

But Doyle also said Democrats both in Pennsylvania and across the nation needed to “spend the next 50 days working” for another four years of an Obama presidency.

“Pennsylvania is going to remain a blue state — it hasn’t gone Republican since the ’80s — and we’re gonna keep it that way,” Doyle said.

Students in attendance at the speech gleaned the importance of their participation in the upcoming election from the representative’s words.

“[Doyle] believes in the youth vote and youth participation in the American process,” Pitt College Democrats member David Geiger said. “There’s a lot of politicians ready to write off college students. He appreciates the grassroots work we do in terms of organization.”

College Democrats President Lara Sullivan agreed.

“The most important takeaway from the speech is that this race really does matter, that we need to keep knocking on doors and registering voters,” she said. “He has a really great way of firing people up and inspiring them.”