Allentown – As U.S. Senate candidate and former small business owner Pat Toomey kicks off his four-day long bus tour across Pennsylvania, he will share his vision for creating jobs through ending the bailouts and runaway Washington spending, reducing taxes for workers and job creating businesses, and lowering health care costs by making insurance companies compete with each other to the people of Berks, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Monroe Counties.

In contrast, Congressman Sestak promised that his $787 billion stimulus bill would keep the national unemployment rate at 9% (Sestak press release, 02/14/09).  Instead, the nation’s unemployment rate soared far past 9%, while Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate climbed from 8% to 9.3% as of last month.  Meanwhile, Pennsylvania taxpayers will be forced to foot the bill for Sestak’s spending spree with higher taxes.

Berks County:

Cost of the stimulus for residents of Berks County: $1,068,023,226

Current unemployment: 9.8% – a 12.6% increase since Sestak voted for the stimulus.

Lebanon County:

Cost of the stimulus for residents of Lebanon County: $342,360,304

Current unemployment: 7.7% – a 10% increase since Sestak voted for the stimulus.

Schuylkill County:

Cost of the stimulus for residents of Schuylkill County: $385,503,590

Current unemployment: 11% – a 7.8% increase since Sestak voted for the stimulus

Luzerne County:

Cost of the stimulus for residents of Luzerne County: $820,695,673

Current unemployment: 10.7% – a 13.8% increase since Sestak voted for the stimulus

Lackawanna County:

Cost of the stimulus for residents of Lackawanna County: $547,753,927

Current unemployment: 9.8% – an 18% increase since Sestak voted for the stimulus

Monroe County:

Cost of the stimulus for residents of Monroe County: $436,404,062

Current unemployment: 10.1% – a 13.8% increase since Sestak voted for the stimulus

“As I travel across Pennsylvania, I will share my plan for creating jobs through reducing the deficit, implementing job-creating tax cuts, and eliminating big-government obstacles to small business growth,” Pat Toomey said.  “I believe we can achieve a booming recovering if we institute the right kind of policies and stop the fiscally irresponsible path Washington is taking our country down right now.”