Senator Pat Toomey is working to streamline burdensome regulations and reform tax policies that are hindering job creation and economic growth in this country. This Congress, Sen. Toomey has cosponsored legislation that would undo Washington's costly health care mandates, cut through red tape that undermines economic growth and affordable energy, and eliminate costly taxes and regulations that directly impact job creators in Pennsylvania, such as medical device makers and contractors. Sen. Toomey also supports simplifying the tax code and lowering tax rates for all Americans to encourage economic growth and make American companies more competitive.

Sen. Toomey is committed to restoring economic growth and private-sector job creation in this country and putting our federal government on a sustainable fiscal path. These two goals are inextricably connected. We cannot maximize economic growth without getting our government's finances in order, and we can't get our finances in order if we don't maximize economic growth and reform unaffordable programs.

Our nation faces a daunting fiscal challenge that can no longer be ignored. The federal government ran a staggering $1.3 trillion deficit in 2011, bringing total government debt to more than $15 trillion. The deficit for 2012 is expected to exceed $1 trillion for the fourth straight year. In addition to slowing economic growth and crowding out private investment, our financial situation is eroding people's faith in our economy and undermining the credibility of our government. It would be tragic to pass along such massive, unsustainable debt on to our children and grandchildren and leave them with a country that is poorer and less productive than the one their parents inherited.

Moreover, if left unchecked, our runaway debt will eventually have to be paid for with trillions of dollars in tax increases. These tax increases will further hamper job creation and permanently lower the standard of living for all Americans.

Sen. Toomey believes that it is imperative that we bring spending under control and have a federal government that lives within its means. That is why Sen. Toomey has cosponsored a balanced budget amendment to the U. S. Constitution that would require the federal government to stop spending money it doesn't have. He also has introduced his own 10-year budget plan which would balance the federal budget within nine years and finally put our country on a fiscally responsible path. Sen. Toomey also introduced bills to cap spending and permanently ban earmarks, while cosponsoring legislation that would end wasteful taxpayer subsidies, such as those for ethanol.

Sen. Toomey has also sponsored legislation to help small companies expand, hire new workers and create thousands of new jobs. In September 2011, Sens. Toomey and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) introduced the Small Company Capital Formation Act (S. 1544), which would cut regulatory burdens on small businesses and make it easier for them to raise much-needed capital through public offerings. The bill changes the Securities and Exchange Commission rule known as "Regulation A" to allow companies to sell as much as $50 million in shares without filing lengthy paperwork. Currently, businesses can only raise $5 million under Regulation A - a limit many businesses consider insufficient. The limit has not been changed in nearly 20 years.

In December 2011, Sens. Toomey and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced the Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act (S. 1933). The Schumer-Toomey bill would make it easier for growing firms to go public by reducing the hurdles of an initial public offering by phasing in many of the costliest obligations over time while maintaining key investor protections.