Toomey: Congressional opponent Sestak deepening deficit, harming economy
BY MICHAEL R. SISAK (STAFF WRITER)
Published: August 3, 2010
WILKES-BARRE - Pat Toomey opened with a dire forecast. If Democrats continue to spend freely, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate told a small group of supporters Monday, the economic recession will worsen, unemployment will increase and the nation will spiral toward financial ruin.
"If we continue down this road, we are in danger of becoming the first generation in American history to hand over to our kids a diminished country - a country in which their opportunities are fewer than the opportunities we had because of the mountain of debt we are putting on their shoulders," Mr. Toomey said. "I think that's unconscionable."
Mr. Toomey, a former Lehigh Valley congressman, offered his doomsday projection, and a window into his solution, at a press conference at Luzerne County Republican Headquarters on South Main Street.
Flanked by black-and-red graphs illustrating the increasing magnitude of government spending, the former currency trader blasted his opponent, U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, and Democratic leaders for deepening deficits with billions of dollars in bailouts and stimulus packages for financial firms and the auto industry and new programs, such as the health care reform bill signed into law in March.
"It's totally unsustainable and it's creating deficits that are completely out of control," Mr. Toomey said, calling for the end of government intervention with failing companies. He also proposed eliminating spending on the most wasteful of the so-called "earmark" appropriations members of Congress collect for projects in their districts.
Mr. Sestak blasted back in a statement issued after Mr. Toomey's press conference.
He criticized Mr. Toomey's opposition to pay-as-you-go rules and his support of former President George W. Bush's tax cuts for wealthy Americans.
