After traveling to nine different locations in three days, Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland finished his bus tour in Athens, which he called the most beautiful part in Ohio.
Strickland serves as national Obama campaign co-chair and said that he came to Athens to talk about President Barack Obama’s and Vice President Joe Biden’s vision for our country as well as the state of Ohio.
The bus tour called, “Romney Economics: Wrong for the Middle Class,” also made stops in The Valley, Kent, Parma, Lorain, Toledo, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.
GOP nominee Mitt Romney and his vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s budget plans for Medicare, Social Security and student loans were heavily criticized by Strickland and Pat Lang, candidate for Ohio's 15th U.S. Congressional District.
“Paul Ryan produced a draconian, dangerous, extreme budget,” Strickland said. “The Romney-Ryan Budget would exacerbate the problems that we have in our country.”
Strickland said that the budget would grant the ‘one percent’ tax cuts of about $250 million and would increase the working middle class’ taxes by about $2,000 per year.
Jessica Newton, a junior studying public relations and secretary of Ohio University College Democrats also spoke at the bus stop.
“I have struggled with affording my education and I pay for it on my own,” Newton said. “I am roughly $26,000 in debt and (Romney and Ryan) would make college more expensive by slashing Pell Grants for nearly 10 million students.”
Strickland said that not only would Pell Grants be cut under Romney’s budget, but also work-study programs as well.
“The fact is that their budget would be devastating for students and parents who are trying to help their students get an affordable education,” Strickland said.
According to Lang, 365,000 Ohio Students currently rely on Pell Grants to help them afford college and under Romney’s plan more than 5,000 work-study programs would be eliminated.
“I am alarmed at what is happening across Ohio in terms of the explosion of student tuition cost,” Lang said. “Obama will continue to emphasize the importance of affordable education.”
Jack Obora, a sophomore studying sociology said that he enjoyed both Strickland’s and Lang’s speeches.
“I think that they both hit on the parts that are important to our country and Ohio,” Obora said.
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