DePasquale says he will try to ‘build bridges’ if elected to Congress

Pennsylvania’s top auditor says he’ll work to lower health care and prescription drug costs and cut wasteful spending at the federal level if elected to Congress in 2020.

Democrat Eugene DePasquale earlier today announced his candidacy for the 10th Congressional District, which covers all of Dauphin County and parts of Cumberland and York Counties.

The elected fiscal watchdog says he’s been dedicated to righting wrongs against Pennsylvanians, pointing to his work exposing a large rape kit testing backlog and revealing thousands of unanswered phone calls at the state’s child abuse reporting hotline as examples.

DePasquale has held the Auditor General position since 2013. Before that, he represented part of York County in the state House for six years.

Speaking at Astoria Diner in West York, DePasquale criticized his potential opponent, incumbent Republican Congressman Scott Perry, as an impediment to getting things done in Washington.

“He mostly tries to stop things from happening,” DePasquale said. “I’m going to be someone that’s going to be trying to build bridges, to try to get good things done, whether it’s improving our schools, improving our environment, lowering the cost of health care, or making sure that everybody in this economy gets a fair shake.”

Perry was first elected to Congress in 2012, winning his first three terms by wide margins.

After Pennsylvania’s congressional district map changed, Perry won last year’s election against pastor George Scott by less than 3 percentage points.

In a statement, a spokesman for Perry said the congressman works toward bipartisan solutions and criticized DePasqaule’s positions as harmful to health care and jobs.

Hear WITF’s full interview with DePasquale here: