WASHINGTON — California Senate GOP candidate Carly Fiorina on Tuesday called for scrapping the national health care law passed by Congress, citing it as an example of out-of-control regulation that's preventing businesses from creating more jobs.
"I would like to see it all repealed," Fiorina told reporters in Washington.
Meeting with the press at the headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Fiorina said she intends to run her campaign against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer by focusing on issues involving jobs, taxes, spending and federal regulations.
She said the Endangered Species Act has also hurt businesses in California, with spotted owls and smelt getting priority over job creation.
Fiorina said high taxes and too much spending by the federal government have created a hostile environment for businesses, particularly in California. And she said the economy is still "problematic," adding: "I think it will remain so."
Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard, is in Washington to raise money for her race, which she predicted will be "fiercely contested and expensive."
If elected, she said, she would use her business sense to get tough on wasteful spending.
And she said she would not vote to raise the retirement age until Washington "gets its house in order" first. She said it's not fair to ask taxpayers to suffer when Washington is so inept at spending its money.
As a way to promote accountability, Fiorina said she wants to put the budget of every government agency on the Internet, allowing the public to have easy access to the documents.
While attacking Boxer as a big-spending liberal, Fiorina praised the state's senior senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, as "a pragmatic voice" who has accomplished much for California.
Boxer, on the other hand, has not done anything in her 34 years of public service for Californians, "other than make their lives more difficult," she said.
Fiorina, who defeated Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and former Rep. Tom Campbell in the GOP primary on June 8, said she will focus her general election message on the same themes that she stressed during the primary campaign.
She said the campaign is going well.
"It's early going, obviously," she said, adding that voters will have "a clear choice" with her and Boxer on the ballot.
Boxer has said she's eager to highlight the differences with Fiorina, too. She's trying to paint Fiorina as a candidate who's too conservative and out of step with most Californians, citing former Republican Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's endorsement of Fiorina as evidence.