PENNSYLVANIA — Senator Pat Toomey is again putting corporate interests ahead of Pennsylvanians, as he refuses to do his job, skips hearings and tries to block efforts to curb inflation by boycotting President Biden’s nominees to the Federal Reserve.
Today, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison called out Toomey, saying that he is “actively trying to kneecap our economic recovery as we emerge from this global pandemic.”
In case you missed it…
Pennsylvania Capital-Star: Dems, allies slam Pa.’s Toomey, Republicans for blocking Biden’s Fed nominees
Democrats and their allies went on the attack Wednesday, accusing Republicans of playing games with the nation’s economic recovery after Republican members of a key U.S. Senate committee boycotted a vote on President Joe Biden’s nominees to the Federal Reserve Board.
In a call with journalists, Democratic National Committee Chairperson Jaime Harrison said U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., the lead Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, and other GOP lawmakers were “actively trying to kneecap our economic recovery as we emerge from this global pandemic.”
Republicans on the panel skipped Tuesday’s session, preventing the votes from taking place. Republicans oppose the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Fed governor and a deputy Treasury secretary during the Obama administration, whom Biden has tapped as the Fed’s top banking regulator the Associated Press reported.
[…]On Wednesday, Harrison, joined by state Rep. Wesley Harris, a Democratic lawmaker from North Carolina, took aim at U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who also boycotted Tuesday’s meeting.
“These fed nominees are outrageously qualified and we need this diverse group of opinions because the economy is a difficult place,” Harris, an economist, said, comparing Republicans to “arsonists who have been put in charge of the fire department.”
[…]Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Harrison said it was critical for Biden’s Fed nominees to clear the Senate so that they could get to work on helping to resolve those economic challenges.
“This is why we want to get their nominations moving forward,” he said, adding that Republicans ” shouldn’t be playing these games.”
In a statement, the environmental advocacy group Evergreen Action also criticized Toomey and his fellow Republicans, accusing them of being “willing to sabotage the economy for the benefit of their fossil fuel donors.
“Inflation rates are at a 40-year high. Wasting time on political stunts to delay highly qualified nominees will only exacerbate the significant pressures facing our economy,” the group’s executive director, Jamal Raad, said in a statement. “We thank Chair Sherrod Brown for holding [Tuesday’s] markup to highlight the hollowness of these political stunts. Senate Banking must now reschedule a vote immediately so that these nominees can move to the Senate floor and get to work on the economic issues most pressing to the American people.”
###