BY STACI WILSON

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., held a jobs roundtable discussion Monday afternoon in Montrose, hosted by the Northern Tier Regional Planning & Development Commission and the Progress Authority.

The Progress Authority handles the day-to-day economic development activities forSusquehannaCounty.

Toomey said, “(The federal government) needs to tighten our belt and live within its means.”

He said he was concerned that although the debt ceiling debate moved the issue toward cuts, substantive changes to spending were not made.

“Bigger than Aug. 2 is the underlying problem that got us here,” he said.

Toomey voted against raising the debt ceiling by $2 trillion in a vote taken early last week.

“We can’t bind the hands of future Congresses. The most meaningful cuts are the spending cuts we make right now with the spending (Congress) controls,” Toomey said.

The senator said two more opportunities to get federal spending under control were on the horizon. In September, according to Toomey, a spending bill is set to come before the Senate.

He also said that cuts could be made if “serious people” were appointed to the Super Committee, a group that will be comprised of 12 members from the House of Representatives and the Senate that was created with the debt ceiling vote.

Toomey said, “I don’t think we can afford to wait too much longer.”

Standard & Poor’s downgraded the nation’s credit rating on Friday afternoon. S&P had expressed in July the country needed to reduce its budget deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years.

The stock market, which was in a slide after the debt ceiling vote, hit a free fall when the market opened Monday morning – the worst weekly decline since late 2008.

Before taking questions, Toomey told the group of about 20 gathered at the Inn of Montrose, his main focus is to get the federal government’s “fiscal house in order.”

He called for the push-back on over-regulation by the government as a way to spur greater economic growth.

“There are a lot of agencies with an anti-growth agenda,” Toomey said.

Sue Dean, a third generation business owner in Montrose said, “For us out here the question is how to get the economy going quickly. We are struggling to stay alive. We’re going under every day.”

She told the senator her business, Donald Dean & Sons, which manufactures high-end cabintetry is driven by the residential real estate market.

Dean said she wanted to instill in the senator the “importance of expediency.”

She said it is frustrating to see bickering inWashingtonwhile “everything is going up.”

Donna Coleman spoke of problems she has encountered with banks unwilling to restructure loans due to regulations. Coleman, with her husband Robert, own the Endless Mountain Stone Company.

She said the ability to restructure those loans would “salvage jobs that are still out there.”

Toomey said the bank regulators missed the housing bubble and are now cracking down by over-regulating the industry with excessive regulations.

The senator said he had heard the similar stories anecdotally many times and suggested a series a hearings with small business owners testifying may shed more light on the situation.

“I’ll come to Congress,” Coleman said. “It’s almost like they are trying to put us out of business.”

Endless Mountains Health Systems CEO Rex Catlin told the senator the hospital replacement project has encountered red tape with local and state regulations.

Catlin said the hospital, which employs about 185 people, is a substantial economic player in the area and invited Toomey to visit the current facility.

Ed Tourje, ofNEPTelephone, spoke about issues his telecommunications company is having with the FCC regarding Universal Service Funding.

He said revenues for access charges have been cut and may require rate hikes his customers won’t be able to afford.

Earlier in the afternoon, Toomey had visitedWyomingCountybusiness leaders.

Chesapeake’s Brian Grove expressed a concern that some members of the public were advocating greater review of the hydrofracturing process.

“To give the Environmental Protection Agency regulatory powers over and above what DEP does,” Toomey said, “I think that’s a bad idea. We don’t need the EPA creating a whole new overlay.”

Bill Kelley of Taylor Rental and BMX Oilfield Supply of Tunkhannock and Montrose asked Toomey what advice he would give small businesses on investments after watching the stock market take a beating this week.

Toomey said it would probably take another election cycle to “really clean house inWashingtonand get the budget in order.”

To small businesses for the short term, however, he said, “I urge you to hang in there. Better days are ahead.”

Robert Baker also contributed to this story.