Republican leader calls Obama's University of Iowa visit 'taxpayer-funded campaign trip'

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus Wednesday morning called President Barack Obama's visit to the University of Iowa campus just another “presidential taxpayer-funded campaign trip.”

“It's amazing to me that Air Force One has a magnet that only lands in battle ground states,” Chairman Reince Pribus said on a conference call before Obama's planned afternoon visit to the Field House on the UI campus in Iowa City.

Priebus said, in fact, that the Republican National Committee is looking into filing a complaint regarding the president's use of his time and money for campaigning.

“If the president spends the majority of their time campaigning … perhaps they should be subject to a complaint,” he said.

Priebus, on the call, said his party's National Committee is now endorsing presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney as the party's candidate after he won all five Northeast states that held primaries Tuesday.

“That means he's our guy,” Priebus said. “It's beyond an endorsement. It's the RNC putting resources and energy behind Mitt Romney. … He's going to be a great president.”

Priebus said the committee is rolling out new digital media strategies and merging resources with the Romney campaign to break records regarding fundraising, voter registration and turnout for this fall's general election.

He said the Republican National Committee is going to do 10 times for Romney what the Democratic National Committee is going to do for Obama.

In light of Obama's speaking tour on college campuses that is wrapping up today with his visit to Iowa, Priebus said the United States needs a president that is more about action that rhetoric.

“His policies aren't working,” Priebus said. “Speeches don't change things in this country, and we have to move beyond speeches and press conferences.”

Priebus said the Republic Party doesn't want interest rates on student loans to increase, referencing the planned topic for Obama's speech today. But, he said, Obama “needs to focus on the real problems in this country.”

That's finding new graduates jobs, he said.

“Students can't get anywhere if they are living in their parent's basement,” he said. “The interest rate is important, but the bigger issue is the president has been an absolute failure in terms of meeting the standards of Americans.”

According to the White House, Obama's message will be focused on the fact that the interest rate on federally-subsidized Stafford student loans is scheduled to double on July 1. Obama is calling for congressional action to keep the rates low.

If the rate is allowed to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, about seven million undergraduates would be affected. According to the White House, it would raise costs by about $1,000 per student, on average.