{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=8A082C0F-72E3-4B84-BF06-65F46F17DEAF", "On Fox Business, Portman Discusses Jobs, President-Elect Trump's Visit to Ohio", "2016-12-08", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Rob Portman", "P000449", "www.portman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "During an interview today on Fox Business, Senator Portman discussed his efforts to strengthen the economy and create more jobs for Ohio workers. Senator Portman expressed his optimism for the country moving forward, saying that, with a new administration, there is \u201cgreat\u00a0opportunity for us to reach\u00a0our potential which will bring\u00a0back a lot of jobs and also will\u00a0increase wages to deal with\u00a0middle class squeeze.\u201d As his record of delivering results for the people of Ohio demonstrates, Portman has consistently worked to cut through gridlock and get things done. That is why he is committed to\u00a0fighting\u00a0for a level playing field for Ohio workers,\u00a0increasing\u00a0job opportunities and boosting wages,\u00a0combatting\u00a0the heroin epidemic,\u00a0protecting\u00a0the most vulnerable among us, and much more to get things done for the people he represents.\r\nTranscript of the interview can be found below and you can watch the interview\u00a0here.\r\nAnchor: \u201cCondolences to you\u00a0and everybody at Ohio State\u00a0University\u2026 Will\u00a0you be in Ohio when Donald\u00a0Trump visits there today?\u201dPortman: \u201cI sure wish I could be\u00a0there. We\u2019re here in\u00a0Washington as you know, still\u00a0voting. We have votes today and\u00a0probably through the weekend, but\u00a0it\u2019s great he is going. He\u2019s going to be\u00a0talking to first responders\u00a0including Officer Horujko, he\u2019s the brave\u00a0officer who showed up within a\u00a0minute or two, was able to\u00a0stop this terrorist attack,\u00a0and he\u2019s also going to meet with some of the\u00a0families of those injured and\u00a0some of those who were injured\u00a0in the attack. So I think it\u00a0is great he is going, and I\u00a0wish I could be there with\u00a0him.\u201d \u2026\r\nAnchor: \u201cSenator Portman, I know your\u00a0thoughts and prayers are on\u00a0the events at Ohio State and the\u00a0victims there, but if I can transition\u00a0you to the\u00a0legislative calendar for 2017,\u00a0there is an awful lot in\u00a0Trump\u2019s to-do list. There is\u00a0tax reform, there is potential\u00a0repeal of Obamacare and having to\u00a0come up with replacement, there is\u00a0Dodd-Frank and the whole regulatory\u00a0regime. What do you think\u00a0the priorities are going to be in new Congress? What are you hoping to get\u00a0accomplished first, second, and\u00a0third?\u201dPortman: \u201cI think the top priority is to\u00a0deal with the Affordable Care\u00a0Act, and as you know there is discussion about having an\u00a0immediate vote for repeal and then a\u00a0longer term process for\u00a0replace. We do have to ensure that the replace\u00a0option is something that we focus\u00a0on because a lot of folks who are in the exchanges\u00a0who are covered now by Medicaid, through no\u00a0fault of their own, are involved in the\u00a0Affordable Care\u00a0Act that is\u00a0not working, but we need to be\u00a0sure that the rug is not pulled out from\u00a0under them and I think we can\u00a0do that and do it effectively and come up with a better\u00a0system. That is I think job\u00a0number one. But the biggest\u00a0job, and the second thing is to turn\u00a0to is jobs, and that will include\u00a0tax reform, it will include regulatory relief, it will include\u00a0something on infrastructure to\u00a0create more jobs opportunity,\u00a0so I think that is a\u00a0huge priority of Congress and\u00a0of the administration, and for\u00a0the country. There is so much\u00a0potential. As you know, we\u2019ve\u00a0got a broken tax code, we\u2019ve\u00a0talked about it a lot on this\u00a0show, it\u2019s something that most\u00a0Americans acknowledge, so I am\u00a0excited about it, I\u2019m looking\u00a0forward to working with\u00a0administration on it.\u201d\r\nAnchor: \u201cI mean they\u2019re talking about\u00a03.5 percent to four percent growth. Do you\u00a0think those plans will get us\u00a0there?\u201dPortman: \u201cWell, it depends on so many\u00a0other external factors. You were talking\u00a0about the ECB this morning and what\u2019s going on in the global\u00a0economy, but yeah, I think the American\u00a0economy can once again lead\u00a0the world. I think we can show\u00a0that we have the market forces\u00a0here to be the envy of the world\u00a0again by unleashing this\u00a0potential. We are right now\u00a0shooting ourselves in the foot\u00a0with a tax code that is noncompetitive, it\u2019s\u00a0antiquated, a regulatory system\u00a0that doesn\u2019t take into account the\u00a0costs and the benefits. There\u2019s just so many\u00a0things that we can do to\u00a0close this skills gap. In my\u00a0home state of Ohio, we\u2019ve got\u00a0jobs open but we don\u2019t have\u00a0the skilled workers to fill\u00a0them, so there is\u00a0opportunity here, with tax\u00a0reform and regulatory reform,\u00a0dealing with health care,\u00a0energy opportunities, increasing skills training, I\u00a0mean there is just great\u00a0opportunity for us to reach\u00a0our potential which will bring\u00a0back a lot of jobs and also will\u00a0increase wages to deal with\u00a0middle class squeeze. I\u2019m looking\u00a0forward to it.\u201d\u00a0\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=8A082C0F-72E3-4B84-BF06-65F46F17DEAF"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9501170609146357, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}