Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) has missed more than 80 percent of hearings on the Senate Budget Committee since 2013, a BuzzFeed analysis found.
{mosads}Toomey skipped 46 out of 57 hearings from the beginning of the 113th Congress in 2013 until April of this year, according to hearing transcripts and videos.
BuzzFeed found that he missed two hearings in June 2013 and July 2014, the same days as his fundraisers. He also missed a morning hearing this February, but went on CNN later that day to endorse Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) presidential bid.
The GOP senator faces a tough race against former gubernatorial chief of staff Katie McGinty (D).
Toomey’s campaign spokeswoman cited the senator’s 96-percent voting attendance record in a response to BuzzFeed. She also pointed to a story from NewsMax that has him listed in the conservative outlet’s “10 Hardest Working Senators in America.”
Toomey and McGinty’s race could help determine which party controls the majority in the upper chamber. The Democratic-leaning state went to President Obama in both 2008 and 2012.
Toomey holds a significant cash advantage over McGinty. But in a recent survey from Quinnipiac University, the two were neck and neck, with Toomey leading by 1 point, within the poll’s margin of error.