Toomey: I’m not afraid to take on entitlements

{mosads}Rather, he contended that the “dysfunctional” state of Congress discouraged including any crack at entitlement reform in the budget proposal.

“We had a Senate that didn’t even pass a budget last year. I’m not confident that my Democratic colleagues will pass a budget this year,” he said. “If you can’t even pass a budget — do we really think we’re going to get Social Security and Medicare reform? I’m not very optimistic.”

Tooomey accused the president of being a hindrance in the effort to rein in the growing costs of the programs.

“It’s going to take presidential leadership to get it done. I don’t think this president wants to do that,” he said. “We’re going to have a real problem if this president doesn’t come around and provide some leadership on the big drivers of our budget deficit.”