Exclusive–Carly Fiorina on Federalism: ‘Federal Bureaucracy More Inept and Corrupt’

Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina tells Breitbart News that conservatives know how to restore federalism.

“Year after year, the federal government has continued to grow while the federal bureaucracy has continued to become more inept and more corrupt,” she said in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News.

“Conservatives don’t lack for good ideas on how to restore federalism, fix our tax code or secure the border,” she said. “The problem isn’t our ideas.”

“The problem is electing a conservative leader with the political will to get it done, and it’s clear the political class isn’t up to the job,” said Fiorina, who will be headlining an event in New Hampshire this Saturday to promote federalism.

The event, organized by the American Principles Project, is the second annual “Practical Federalism” forum. It includes addresses by Fiorina, Sen. Ted Cruz, and former Sen. Rick Santorum. Breitbart News will provide a live stream of the event.

The forum is also sponsored by Cornerstone Action and The Family Leader, and will host discussions on monetary policy, the Gold Standard, Common Core, Advanced Placement U.S. History, and Land Use.

Emmett McGroarty, education director of APP, tells Breitbart News that over the past century there has been a shift in power from the people to the federal government.

“In particular, the federal executive branch has grown so large that Congress cannot provide any kind of authentic oversight or any kind of check or balance,” McGroarty said. “The federal executive also runs roughshod over the states and the people, employing some of the same techniques cutting across many issues – education, transportation, environmental policy.”

McGroarty, who will speak at the forum, said, regardless of the issue, the federal branch sets overly broad laws and the federal agencies will interpret them very harshly vis-à-vis the states.

“The states will then have no recourse, and the federal government will sometimes offer waivers from their heavy-handedness in return for additional concessions by the states,” he continued. “The federal government is not only setting the policy agenda, but also the timeline as to how quickly the states have to react or accept grants or not, and this is all very coercive.”

“We will be talking about how to move power away from the federal government and back toward the states and the people,” he said.