1 of 2 | Sen. Pat Toomey, R-PA, backed by other Senate Republicans, speaks during a press conference to propose legislation that would raise the debt ceiling but limit future spending through a balanced budget amendment on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 7, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg |
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama "inherited a weak economy" from a Republican administration, but isn't making it better, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Saturday.
In the party's weekly media address, Toomey said the president's Democratic strategies had made a bad situation worse.
"President Obama inherited a weak economy, but by nearly every measure, he has made the economy worse," Toomey said. "Over two years ago, his administration told us that passing his $787 billion stimulus bill would keep unemployment below 8 percent.
"Instead, since the stimulus was enacted, our economy has lost more than 1.3 million jobs and the unemployment rate has averaged over 9 percent."
Toomey is one of three Republican senators in a so-called supercommittee evenly divided by party, charged with devising an economic plan for the United States to cut $1.5 billion from the federal budget and control national debt. There are six senators and six House members on the special panel, which is to present a plan to Congress in the fall.
Under last-minute legislation early this month, default spending cuts will kick in if the supercommittee's recommendations aren't approved.
Toomey, a freshman to the upper chamber, said he was "very optimistic" about a turnaround.
"Americans are still the hardest working, most industrious and innovative, most entrepreneurial people in the world," he said.