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Barletta, Marino Pitch Conservative Policies at King’s College

By Whitney Roper, Contributing Writer

Freshman NEPA Congressmen Lou Barletta and Tom Marino did not hide their conservative colors Tuesday night at King’s College’s Congress on Campus event where they both shared similar approaches to begin answering the government’s biggest problems.

The town-hall-meeting atmosphere had the two men addressing questions from the moderator as well as the audience about federal cutting and spending, the national deficit and debt, Obama-Care, illegal immigration, and the labor market.

Marino said that the two most important issues right now are job creation and government spending. As current government funding expires March 4th, both men said that Congress must act now.

“We need to put workers back to work.”

They opted to extend tax cuts ‘indefinitely’ saying that it would remove uncertainty for businesses, old and new. “This country can’t be saved by Uncle Sam but rather Mom and Pop shops,” Barletta stated.  Lowering taxes for new companies would generate innovation and ultimately, create jobs.

Both men touched upon the idea of Marcellus shale as a potential opportunity for PA to generate jobs and money. Pennsylvania can be very successful, we just have to be smart about it [drilling], Marino stated. “We have the ingenuity to get this gas out of the ground and create jobs in our state.”

If America is to do something about its $14 trillion debt, the cutting of federal funding for some programs is necessary.

“We all need to step up to the plate.” And for Barletta and Marino, that means cleaning up wasteful spending. Both the EPA and the Department of Education need to be scrutinized, Marino said.

Funding needs to be redirected and Barletta asked: What’re our priorities?

Americans can’t afford programs like LIHEAP to be cut; however, funding for things such as the Institute of Peace, which currently receives $44 million in funding to do what Barletta says, the Department of Defense and Peace Corps already does, can afford funding reduction.

In regards to social security, Barletta said that we don’t have many choices other than growing the economy and having more people pay into it.

“Life expectancy used to be in the 60s, now people live well into their 80s. We can’t take it away, but changes will need to be made,” Marino said. The government currently overs $2.4 trillion to Social Security.

Another area in which both congressmen said ‘needs change’ is that of America’s current healthcare program:

Barletta and Marino agreed that the ‘government takeover of healthcare’ must be repealed and replaced with a transparent and incremental system so that the average American knows step by step what they’re paying for. Marino, a two-time cancer survivor, said that is it hard for him and his family to find good insurance and that he doesn’t want government telling him where to get it from.

Republicans didn’t get to participate in the healthcare bill. Now, it is time for both sides, Democrats and Republicans, to decide together what kind of healthcare America can afford and in the bigger scheme of things – What kind of America can we afford?

One Response

  1. Dear Congressmen Barletta and Marino. Please stand by Congressman Boehner and his budget proposal. I am a registered Indepentant voter who voted for the both of you to make a change in this administration. This President does not have the same vision of the direction I wish this great country to go in. In simple terms, DON’T CAVE INTO HIS DEMANDS!

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