More than 40 people discuss jobs, energy policy, infrastructure spending

Springfield, PA – Representative Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, held an hour-long town hall forum on jobs at the Haverford Township Free Library in Havertown today for the ninth stop of his 10 week, 25-stop economic tour of the District. The forum was attended by more than 40 people, who expressed concerns about job creation, ending the country’s dependence on foreign oil and the economic policies of former President George Bush.

During the town hall, Lentz said he had visited manufacturers in the region like American Crane & Equipment and Container Research Corporation that were providing good-paying jobs and competing successfully with low-cost producers around the world by creating products that were better in quality and more advanced technologically. These kinds of companies should be given incentives for investing in research and development and upgrading their facilities, Lentz said.

“Offering strong incentives for research and investing in new equipment will result in the kinds of spending that leads to more jobs at companies like American Crane and Container Research as well as the companies that they are buying supplies from,” Lentz said.

Lentz also said that too much focus over the past decade had been on creating wealth through Wall Street, and that policies should be put in place to encourage companies that manufacture products and offer jobs locally. Lentz said that tax loopholes that encouraged U.S. manufacturers to ship jobs overseas should be closed, and that educational programs should be available to provide a work force with skills that were in demand from local companies.

Lentz has made saving and creating jobs the cornerstone of his campaign for Congress. He is the only candidate with a published plan to get our economy moving again and the only candidate who supports Wall Street reform and the creation of a consumer financial protection agency to ensure another collapse does not happen.  Lentz has also pledged to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas while his opponent Pat Meehan has signed a pledge that has bound him to oppose legislation that has been introduced to end those tax breaks.

A former Airborne Ranger, criminal prosecutor and Iraq War veteran, Bryan Lentz currently serves in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Delaware County. He was awarded both the Bronze Star for Service and the War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal for his military service. He lives in Swarthmore with his wife Jennifer and their son Thomas.