VIDEO: Gov. Terry Branstad and MSNBC's Chuck Todd Butt Heads Over Welfare Work Requirements

Let it never be said that Gov. Terry Branstad is not a tenacious surrogate for Mitt Romney.

In an interview with MSNBC's Chuck Todd this morning, the governor repeatedly said that President Barack Obama has weakened welfare's work requirements, a topic that has come up in the campaign in recent weeks with multiple campaign ads pro and contra. One of Mitt Romney's ads on the subject received a Pants on Fire rating from Politifact. Todd meanwhile, just as doggedly, kept repeating that the claims Branstad was making aren't true.

Here is a transcript of the interview:

BRANSTAD: Now the Obama Administrations is trying to undo the work requirement. We think we need instead of putting more people on -- 

TODD: Governor Branstad, they haven't done that. They haven’t done that. They haven't undone the work requirements. I'm trying to understand – you went after the work requirements. I’m trying to go back - you leveled a charge about the welfare work requirement, it turns out that's not true. Where did you get your information? 

BRANSTAD: It absolutely is.I was one of the governors that helped get it and when we passed it, it was designed not to be waived and now the President of the United States has by executive order in July weakened that, which was very effective.

TODD: The waiver was for state governors. The waivers were for you!

BRANSTAD: Governor Tommy Thompson was a leader of this in Wisconsin, he just won the primary yesterday. This president never supported work for welfare and now he's trying to weaken it. 

TODD: Again, it was a waiver for governor, he's not doing anything. If governors weaken it to a certain point, the federal government yanks the waiver. 

BRANSTAD: Here's my concern, you've got some liberals that are going to try to use that, but what we think is that the effective welfare reform that we passed on a bipartisan basis, with governors like John Engler and Tommy Thompson has worked effectively. Liberals have always hated it, Obama is playing to his liberal base. We think that's wrong, we think it's one of the most effective things that's been done in the last two decades. And we need to do similar things with the food -

TODD: What I don’t understand is nothing about this issue, every charge that has been leveled about this welfare reform order that the President signed, that every accusation that has been leveled by some Republicans have been proven to be not true.

BRANSTAD: Well the fact of the matter is the president did it. He didn't have to take this action to weaken the strong work requirement that was passed back -

TODD: It doesn't weaken it, it gives the states -- 

BRANSTAD: He did it because he's never supported the work requirement and the fact of the matter is-

TODD: The work requirement is still there, Governor!