Toomey for Senate

By Brad Bumsted
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_696213.html

HARRISBURG -- During a four-day bus tour that started yesterday, Senate candidate Pat Toomey will deliver a tailored message on the local costs of the $787 billion federal stimulus bill that was supported by his Democratic opponent, Rep. Joe Sestak.

In Allegheny County, for instance, the cost to county residents for the stimulus bill is $3.1 billion, according to the Toomey campaign, yet the unemployment rate is 8.3 percent.

"Joe Sestak has voted for all of this -- all the bailouts and the stimulus bill," Toomey said during an appearance at the Pennsylvania Press Club. He portrayed Sestak as a congressman who voted for stimulus, bailouts, higher spending and the staggering debt.

Sestak blamed Toomey for the expansion in debt and the size of government during President George W. Bush's administration.

"He caused the damage that gave us the recession," Sestak said. "Congressman Toomey voted in lock-step with George W. Bush. When he did it, he said government didn't have to live within its means. He actually said we didn't have to have (pay-as-you-go budgeting). Four times he voted against it."

Toomey has said he voted for a stronger version of pay-as-you-go, and voted against the version Sestak cites because it allowed Congress to balance the budget with tax increases.

Toomey's campaign calculated the local costs of the stimulus by taking the cost of the bill, dividing it by the population to obtain a per capita cost, then multiplying by the population in each county, according to his campaign spokesperson Nachama Soloveichik.

After a swing through Northeastern Pennsylvania yesterday, Toomey today will travel through Central Pennsylvania before taking his tour to Armstrong, Butler, Allegheny and Washington counties on Wednesday. He will conclude the tour Thursday in Erie and other Northwestern Pennsylvania counties.

In the Press Club, Toomey pledged to be a senator dedicated to limited government and reform. He said he supports some increases for agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, which does work that can't be done by the private sector.

As a member of Congress from Allentown, Toomey said, "I saw the waste. I saw the abuse." He said he was often pitted against his own party in opposing earmarks or pork barrel projects.

Toomey said he supports continuation of the Bush tax cuts at current rates, except for capital gains and corporate tax rates, which he would lower.
Asked how he would pay for those tax cuts, Toomey said through growth in the economy that would come as a result.