Derrick Smith: Pa. is hurting. Where is Sen. Toomey?
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I voted for Sen. Pat Toomey back in 2010 because he seemed like he wanted to look out for working people like me. He didn’t seem afraid of going against his party and working across the aisle to help working Americans. It’s the same reason that I proudly voted for Donald Trump, but still support President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda — I don’t care about the politics of it, as long as it helps working families like mine.
By opposing Build Back Better, it’s clear that Toomey has gotten caught up in the politics of Washington and forgotten about the Pennsylvanians he’s supposed to represent.
Before the pandemic, my wife and I were doing well financially. We had a new baby on the way and big plans for the future. But after the upheaval of the last two years, most of our optimism has been replaced with worry.
For young families like ours, raising children seems a lot more difficult than it did for our parents’ generation. I love my job working for a start-up here in Pittsburgh that helps cities make their sidewalks more accessible for people with disabilities. My wife, Tara, has her own business as a photographer and videographer. We were on the path to pay off our mortgage early, and saving to hopefully have another child soon after the first, and were able to go out to dinner or the movies when we wanted to. We were careful with our money but we lived a good life.
Then the pandemic hit.
Tara’s business dried up — family weddings were canceled or postponed. She’s the videographer for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but there were no games or events. We went from being very comfortable to just getting by. Paying off our medical debt and credit cards got more difficult. Even now, we don’t go out for date nights. We’ve also put our plans to expand our family on hold.
And so many families are suffering much more than we are. Our family members and friends from college have lost their jobs and gone through bankruptcy. I see small businesses closing throughout Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately, Toomey must not come back to Pennsylvania anymore, because he recently told the media, “We don’t have an economic crisis going on at all,” and he even tried to say the economy is better than it was pre-pandemic. Toomey might be doing better than he was before the pandemic, but my family is not. He’s dead wrong on this, just like he was when talking about the Build Back Better Act when he said, “The American people didn’t vote for it. They don’t support it.”
Sen. Toomey, I voted for you so you could look out for the working class and support small businesses, two things the Build Back Better Act would do. The child tax credit has been a lifeline for us, and extending it would help us feel a little more secure as Tara tries to build her business back up. And along with lower prescription drug prices to make health care more affordable, and more good-paying jobs? That’s the change that I voted for, and the change that Pennsylvania needs to get back on track.
We are two years into a pandemic and people in my community are still struggling. Now is the time to be a real independent voice and take a stand for us.
Don’t abandon your constituents at a time we need you the most. Everyone I know has done their part to work through things. The least our representatives could do is help us get ourselves back to where we were. Show us that you have our back.
Derrick Smith lives in Pittsburgh and is a member of the nonprofit advocacy group WorkMoney.