Small business owners got together to talk to a big voice today. It was a discussion that hopes to grow small businesses in our community.

US Senator Pat Toomey held the discussion forum at the Manufacturer’s Association.

Small businesses employ millions of professionals in virtually every possible industry. That is why it is so important to keep them going and that was Senator Toomey’s goal from this forum. He says it’s his way of having a face-to-face, open dialogue. 

Toomey wants to ensure that local business owners feel supported.

“I do forums like this all around the state. I wanna hear from people who are out making our economy work; small businesses are the net news source of jobs overwhelmingly. “

Toomey believes it’s very important for small business sectors to be doing well. He says having these roundtable discussions help him better understand the community. He says he got to share insights on what’s going on in Washington. 

General Manager of Industrial Sales and Manufacturing Incorporated, James Rutkoski, spoke to Toomey about items on border security and anything that affects his business.

“Right now, our biggest issue is finding people that want to work. We want to find people to work in manufacturing so we’re hoping that some of the stuff that goes on in Washington helps us and helps people want to get into manufacturing.”

Business owners told us they felt productive after attending the discussion since they don’t get many chances to get their voices heard by the people they’ve elected to govern.

Around 20 small local business owners were part of the discussion and many of them were relieved to have put their opinions out in the forefront.

We also took the opportunity to talk to Senator Pat Toomey about being among the 12 Republicans who opposed President Donald Trump’s National Emergency Declaration, which was a shock to some, and this is what he had to say: