Murphy makes up facts, unable to provide plan on economy
 
PHILADELPHIA, Pa.– In their first face-to-face encounter of the fall campaign, Mike Fitzpatrick trounced incumbent Congressman Patrick Murphy during a taping of Larry Kane’s Voice of Reason earlier today.
 
During the debate, Fitzpatrick pressed Congressman Murphy on  record unemployment that more than doubled during his time in Congress.  Unable to provide any plan for economic recovery and job creation, Murphy feebly claimed that the massive $787 billion stimulus bill he championed last year has helped the economy.
 
Additionally, to hide his record of increasing joblessness and deficit spending, Murphy grossly misstated and made up facts during the thirty-minute debate. 
 
Murphy claimed that during the eight years of the Bush Administration, during two of which Murphy was also a member of Congress,  America lost 8 million jobs.  In fact, according to a Wall Street Journal study published in January of 2009, there was a net gain of 3 million jobs between January 2001 and January 2009.  “Congressman Murphy has never been particularly good at counting jobs,” Fitzpatrick said, “unemployment is high enough, but now Patrick Murphy is trying to make 11 million more jobs disappear.”
 
Additionally, Murphy claimed that the North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted by a Republican Congress.  In reality, NAFTA was enacted in 1993, when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress.  It was later signed into law by then President Bill Clinton, also a Democrat.  “This is just a further example of how Congressman Murphy is willing to bend the truth to suit his political needs,” Fitzpatrick said, “unfortunately for Congressman Murphy he can’t hide the fact that unemployment is at 9.6% and he has no plan to reduce it.”
 
The debate is scheduled to air on the Comcast Network station on Sunday, September 12th at 9:30 PM and Wednesday, September 15th at 5:30 PM.