PORT ALLEGANY — U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey spent some time in McKean County Monday, touring Ardagh Glass and touching base with some rural constituents.
“Tax reform, that has been probably the biggest topic of discussion,” he told The Era, while meeting briefly at Mick’s Diner in Port Allegany.
“People understand that we’ve got a ridiculous tax code,” Toomey said. “It’s pretty hard to defend. On the individual side, it’s awfully complicated and very onerous to comply with. On the business side, we put American business — and therefore all our employees — at a competitive disadvantage as the rest of the world as much lower tax rates on business.
“It’s an opportunity to do tax reform in both spheres,” he said. “Pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to is enthusiastic about it.”
The conservative Republican senator addressed the discord in the nation, his hopes for healthcare reform and his opinion on arguments against the repeal or partial repeal of Obamacare.
“I think people have had big hopes for a Republican-controlled government, where you have the House and the Senate and the White House and they want us to get things done,” the senator said. “They want to see us repeal Obamacare and replace it with a healthcare system that’s responsive to consumers and not to a federal bureaucracy.”
He said two things are happening simultaneously in the nation with healthcare — “Obamacare exchanges are collapsing” and discussions are continuing on a comprehensive repeal.
“The Obamacare exchanges “are in a death spiraL,” Toomey said. “Obamacare is failing exactly as we expected it would.”
Democrats have suggested bailing out insurance companies, he said, adding he is against that.
“I’m not very enthusiastic about taxpayers bailing out a failing business model that’s part of Obamacare,” he said, suggesting that an interim step may be possible, “where we stabilize markets for people who are on these exchanges in return for some reforms so people can actually get insurance they can afford and not need subsidies. That’s something that is being negotiated right now.”
At the same time, the senator said, discussions are continuing about how the Senate can get 50 votes for a more comprehensive repeal.
It’s kind of two fronts at the same time,” Toomey said.
While the healthcare debate is raging on, there is one claim which Toomey calls “totally untrue” — that millions will lose coverage should Obamacare be repealed.
“Obamacare, I think, was very badly designed, very flawed in its fundamental structure. It drives up the cost of healthcare, we’ve seen that,” Toomey said. “When you drive up the cost of something, you make it less available to people. More people are unable to afford it. By getting rid of all of these regulations and mandates, you’ll have a lower cost product where people can actually select the kind of coverage they want. It will be more affordable and I think coverage will be expanded.”
The senator also discussed the discord in the nation today, saying it cannot be called a purely Republican or Democratic phenomenon.
“The country is polarized more so than I’ve ever seen before — Congress reflects that,” Toomey said. “I think there’s plenty of blame to go around.”
However, he said, “if you look closely, you can see a lot of cases of individual senators working with the other side to get things done.”
He mentioned a bipartisan working relationship he has with U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., working to fill vacancies on the federal bench.
“We had more success than any other bipartisan delegation,” Toomey said. “It’s true there’s a lot of partisan rancor and that has made it more difficult to get things done, but it’s also true that sometimes quietly and not on the front page of the paper, Democrats and Republicans are working together to get things done.”
Toomey’s tour continues today in Elk, Jefferson and Clearfield counties before he heads to Pittsburgh.
