Congressman Massa's Comments Show That He is Out of Touch with Western New York Economy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tom Reed this morning called Eric Massa's recent comments to the Hornell Evening Tribune "troubling" and "more evidence that Eric Massa is out of touch with the economic situation in Western New York." Last Sunday Massa told the Tribune that the $787 billion borrowed on the backs of tax payers by the Stimulus package is "having a positive impact" since unemployment has not gone higher than 10 percent."

"According to the New York State Department of Labor, the Southern Tier region is losing jobs faster than the rest of the state and Steuben County, where Hornell is located, has the highest unemployment rate in upstate New York," Reed observed. "For Congressman Massa to make those comments in Hornell shows that he is at best out of touch with our local economy and at worst insensitive to the situation." 

"We can't expect Congressman Massa, who has never created a single job, meet a payroll, or balance a budget, to understand the challenges that we face," Reed said. "But to say that the $787 billion borrowed is having a positive impact when unemployment is 10% shows a troubling misunderstanding of our local economy. Even the Associated Press recently concluded that the stimulus spending has created no local jobs."

"We cannot borrow our way to prosperity," Reed said. "We have to stop borrowing. The spending binge has to stop and even though he voted for and supports the stimulus, I call on Congressman Massa to oppose any future so-called stimulus proposals."

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