In New Hampshire, Kasich vows to balance fed budget in 8 years

COLUMBUS — In the first major policy speech of his presidential campaign, Gov. John Kasich vowed to balance the federal budget in eight years while cutting tax rates and eliminating unnecessary and burdensome regulations.

Kasich's "Strategy for Dismantling Washington & Reclaiming Our Power, Money and Influence" also calls for a "top-to-bottom" review of the Internal Revenue Service and federal tax code and the approval of the much-debated Keystone XL pipeline.

"The time to fix America is now," Kasich told an audience at a New Hampshire community college Thursday. "It's not tomorrow, it's right now. The time to make tough decisions and get results, even if they're not popular.... is now, because if we continue to hesitate, America will pay a very high price."

He added, "Today, I lay out my vision for lifting our nation by reclaiming our power, by reclaiming our money and by reclaiming our influence from Washington."

The announcement came as Kasich has slipped in the polls both in that state and in Ohio.

His national proposals should sound familiar to Ohioans — they mirror many of the policies enacted after Kasich took office as governor, with an emphasis on smaller government, lower taxes and regulatory reform.

"When government is the first resort, it oversteps its bounds with taxes that are too high, spending we can't afford and red tape that kills jobs,” he said. “We shouldn't let Washington do things that we can do better for ourselves right back here at home. Those folks way far away, they can't run our lives. We've got to run our lives."