{mosads}”Some of these things, like those endowment efforts and PBS I very much appreciate and like what they do in many cases, but I just think they have to strand on their own rather than receiving money borrowed from other countries, as our government does on their behalf,” Romney said.

Conversely, Romney said that while he expected to find savings by eliminating waste in military spending, he would roll any money found into hiring new active duty troops and purchasing new equipment.

“I do not believe the world is so safe that we can turn away from our investment in national security,” Romney said.

The Republican presidential hopeful also provided concrete goals for his first term, including the creation of 12 million jobs and GDP growth of 4 percent. American GDP growth has not reached that level since 2000.

And Romney pledged that under his plan, high-income taxpayers would continue to pay the same amount of taxes as they did in the past. Democrats have argued that Romney’s tax plans would increase burdens on most middle- and low-income families, while reducing the bill for the wealthiest Americans, or lead to severe cuts in government services.

“I indicated as I announced my tax plan that the key principles included the following. First, that high-income people would continue to pay the same share of the tax burden that they do today. And second, that there would be a reduction in taxes paid by middle-income taxpayers,” Romney said.

The Obama campaign said in a statement Wednesday that Romney’s economic plan “is made up of rhetorical claims that he can’t back up.”

“Moreover, President Obama has already taken on the challenges Romney pays lip service to, but simultaneously says he’ll cut,” Obama spokesman Adam Fetcher said.