Letter to the editor: Toomey's covid-19 response puts Pa. first

Wendell Young’s attack on Sen. Pat Toomey (“Pa. families need Toomey to lead in covid-19 debate,” July 28, TribLIVE) is the latest in the union executive’s history of mistruths.

If you read Young’s column, you might assume the federal government has provided no relief at all or that Gov. Tom Wolf’s response has yielded tremendous results. Not so. Toomey has supported five pieces of legislation — nearly $3 trillion worth of federal funds for covid-19 relief — that were signed into law, aiding Pennsylvania’s workers, small businesses, health care providers, and state and local governments.

Young rightly calls for stronger protections for nursing home workers and residents. But the Wolf administration required these care providers to accept covid-19-infected patients, exposing the most vulnerable population to the virus. Consequently, 68% of all covid-19-related deaths in Pennsylvania have come from nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Toomey, a Republican, crossed the aisle to work with Democratic Sen. Bob Casey to prioritize testing capacity for nursing home residents and workers and develop a plan to reduce nursing home deaths, which they detailed in early May.

Young wants Toomey and Congress to extend the $600 per week bonus unemployment compensation. But studies show two-thirds of recipients now get paid more to be unemployed than to work. Congress must work on a package to support the unemployed without penalizing work.

Toomey has been putting Pennsylvania first. He is working with his colleagues in a good-faith, bipartisan manner to find solutions that protect lives without destroying livelihoods. Young should be doing the same.

Stephen Bloom

Harrisburg