Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey will serve on a new 12-member congressional committee that has the mission of coming up with a bipartisan plan this fall to reduce the federal government's budget deficit by more than $1 trillion.
Toomey, a Republican from Lehigh County, was named Wednesday by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Toomey is a business ally and free-market advocate who opposes tax increases and has attacked the growth in the government's size and spending over the past decade as a threat to a healthy economy.
Toomey opposed the deficit-reduction package that passed Congress last week. At the time he said the effort didn’t go far enough to cut spending.
“For fiscal year 2012, this legislation will only cut two-tenths of 1 percent of total spending,” said Toomey before voting against the debt deal. "Not only will our debt grow each year under this plan, it will continue to grow even as a percentage of our economy. Finally, I am concerned that the long-term cuts over the next decade will not materialize."
Toomey said he's hopeful that the new committee created by the law can make important strides toward balancing the budget.
House Speaker John Boehner’s Republican committee picks are: Reps. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Dave Camp and Fred Upton, both of Michigan.
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In addition to Toomey, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell named Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Rob Portman of Ohio to the panel.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid named Democrats Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Max Baucus of Montana as members of the panel.
Nine of the panel's 12 positions are now filled. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi will name the other three.
