Criticizes Toomey’s Plan to Send American Jobs Overseas

HARRISBURG, Pa. – – Joe Sestak today criticized Congressman Toomey for his recent book, The Road to Prosperity, which calls foreign export subsidies a “gift to the American consumer.”

“Congressman Toomey may believe that foreign subsidies are a gift to the American consumer, but Pennsylvania’s workers understand that foreign subsidies are in fact code for outsourcing jobs to China,” said Joe Sestak “I know job creation here, at home, must be the urgent and unified mission of this country. It’s time to start putting American workers first for a change.”

Speaking with union workers from across Central Pennsylvania, Admiral Sestak said  much more needs to be done to get the economy back on track. We need to: reign in foreign export subsidies that kill American jobs; close the loopholes for corporations that ship jobs abroad; strengthen and enforce laws against offshore tax shelters; and end the special treatment for Wall Street financiers that lets them pay a lower tax rate than the workers in their mailroom, while extending middle class tax breaks.

The driver of our economic recovery cannot be giveaways to corporate interests that send jobs from our shores but through steps that help bolster the American worker. Yet Congressman Toomey remains fully set in failed policies he fought to enact in Washington, as a member of the House of Representatives and as President of the Wall Street-backed special interest group Club for Growth.

“The problem with Congressman Toomey’s position is that it ignores the human cost, the impact of giving away money overseas while shuttering the same factories and mills you work in,” Joe told workers. “Our economy is in crisis. Our families are hurting, and the last thing they need is an intellectual argument. They need a practical solution.We can’t afford to go back to the disastrous economic agenda that caused this mess — and I will fight hard, every day, to make sure we don’t have to.”

Congressman Toomey: Fighting for Jobs Overseas

TOOMEY CLAIM: “Foreign subsidies are gifts to American consumers…Certainly, substantial foreign subsidies…would result in fewer American cars sold, and consequently few American auto workers…But we should not confuse the loss of specific auto jobs with lost jobs overall.  In fact, there are no net job losses caused by foreign subsidies…jobs are created in other industries in similar numbers to those lost in the auto industry. Unfortunately, these job gains are dispersed across the entire economy and are not easily discernible.” [p. 113]

THE FACTS: In the last quarter, the U.S. economy grew 1.6%; the Chinese economy grew 10.3% [NY Daily News, 8/27/10; Financial Times, 7/15/10].  Stagnant growth is not good enough.  It is true that there are many new jobs created in other industries; the problem is that too many of them are in China.

The fact is Congressman Toomey has a long record supporting major corporations that do business overseas.

• Voted to give federal loans to corporations that move offshore [HR 4818, #386, &/15/04]
• Voted to give benefits to corporations dodging U.S. taxes by moving offshore [HR 4520, #258, 6/17/04]
• Voted for tax loopholes that export jobs, making it harder for American small businesses to compete [HR 4520, 10/7/04, #509]
• Supported NAFTA-which cost Pennsylvania 44,000 jobs, calling it “good for America” [Morning Call, 9/16/93]
• Toomey argued free trade would create jobs, while acknowledging that workers might be “displaced” [Morning Call, 12/5/99, 1/21/00]

His support of these companies is so far out there that he wants to “eliminate corporate taxes altogether,” claiming that doing so would make America “by far the most tax advantaged country in the world” [CNBC, 7/20/02; p. 206].  Congressman Toomey conveniently leaves out how he would pay for this.  He has two options, adding more than $225 billion [IRS] to the debt every year or passing the bill on to the taxpayers.  Pennsylvanians would be on the hook for an additional $9,168,219,585 in taxes each and every year.   While in Congress, he even co-sponsored legislation [HR 25] to create a national sales tax of at least 30% on every dollar we spend to end corporate taxes.

Joe Sestak was elected to Congress in 2006 after a distinguished 31-year career in the United States Navy, and he is honored to represent the Southeastern Pennsylvania district where he was born and raised. He is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat from Pennsylvania.  During his Navy career, Joe attained the rank of 3-star Admiral, served in the White House as Director for Defense Policy on President Clinton’s National Security Council, served in the Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, and led a series of operational commands at sea, culminating in command of the USS George Washington Aircraft Carrier Battle Group (30 ships, 100 aircraft, and 15,000 sailors/marines/aviators/SEALs) during combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In our nation’s time of crisis in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the Navy turned to Joe Sestak to serve as the first Director of “Deep Blue,” the Navy anti-terrorism unit formed in response to the attacks. Joe is the highest-ranking former military officer ever elected to either branch of Congress. He graduated second in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy and holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a PhD in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University. Joe lives in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Alex, and proudly represents the 7th District, where his mother and many of his seven siblings still reside.