Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa) met with 230 constituents during a town-hall meeting event held Thursday morning at Penn's Peak, Jim Thorpe.

Toomey has been holding town meetings regularly this year in communities throughout the state.He said that the meetings are helpful in bringing him up to speed with issues important to people.The group was welcomed by Bob DeSusa, state director.After being introduced, by Kim Bell, general manager of Blue Ridge Communications TV-13, Sen. Toomey said that he was pleased that so many people turned out and asked everyone to feel free to have an open debate with him.He outlined two focus areas: encouraging the creation of jobs by the private sector and restoring fiscal responsibility in Washington D.C."This is what I am hearing from my constituents," he said, reading from a chart.His number one issues were the discussion on fiscal responsibility in Washington D.C. and the creation of more jobs in Pennsylvania.The number two issue was the threat of new regulations, particularly from the EPA, which are hurting job creators.Third on the list was how Obamacare is stifling innovation in Pennsylvania and the fourth major issue was how local governments are struggling to deal with unfunded mandates."Where have the jobs gone?" he asked. Then answered, "Excessive regulations is one reason."He added that America also needs to find an alternate power source besides coal and oil.Another deterrent was the stringent requirements of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."I know we have cleaner air then we've ever had," said Toomey. "I agree that all this progress for cleaner air has been good, but we have to be careful how we do it."Toomey said that he believes there should be a cost study on how the cleaner air requirements impact jobs in the future."For successful growth, we need regulations that are not burdensome to businesses."He said that new rules by the EPA affect top employers in seven counties and that will affect future job growth."I'm doing my best to push back on massive new regulatory programs affecting industry," said Toomey.Because the new ozone standards are making large areas of Pennsylvania uncompetitive for heavy manufacturing, he said that he has introduced legislation that would delay new ozone standards.He did have a bright spot in the discussion on jobs. He said that the Philadelphia Shipyard recently was awarded a contract for hundreds of millions to build two ships.Toomey also believes that additional requirements with money market funds would hurt Pennsylvania companies and municipalities that use money market funds.Toomey then fielded questions on why an unemployed person pay taxes while some people who do not pay taxes get refunds."Corporations who pay no income tax is wrong," said Toomey. "It is Congress' fault." He noted that the loopholes need to be closed.In answer to a question posed by "Gene," representing the Pa. Chamber of Commerce, Tommey said that laws need to be changed so that companies that have fewer than 50 employees will be penalized with higher costs for health care if they want to hire a few more employees.He said that Obamacare is a terrible policy that is hurting employers.Rick Gilbert of the United States Post office brought up a situation with mail delivery that stumped Toomey.Gilbert asked why mail was handled by non post office employees at a cost that is higher than the U.S. Post Office can provide.He said that when the post office did a survey to determine good locations for service, Fed-X and UPS located an outlet close by without putting out a dime in doing the study.Gilbert also noted that the postal service has to prepay retirement benefits for retiring employees which was overpaid by $60 billion. He wondered who makes mistakes like that and keeps their job.Toomey said that he was unfamiliar with the issue and that he would look into it.Toomey also fielded questions about Marcellus Shale natural gas issues, he believes will help the local economy, plus the issue of environmental pollution.Toomey said that he believes that the EPA goes too far and issues mandates too suddenly to be reasonably fair to industry, such as forcing companies to purchase new boilers that make it impossible for a manufacturer to comply within a reasonable amount of time.Another man, a former Bethlehem Steel employee, said that the issue of having the new fluorescent light bulbs mandated obsolete put 40 plants who make incandescent light bulbs out of business.He said that the new light bulbs are manufactured in China and that the mercury inside the light bulbs is a safety issue.Toomey said that consumers should have the freedom to purchase the light bulbs they want to use.Also discussed was the issue of illegal aliens. Toomey said that he doesn't think that amnesty will be given."I find that highly unlikely," he said. "It would be disastrous."