{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=902DE4AE-49EA-4F8E-8372-C7FD205D3C0D", "Hours Before Vote, Portman Discusses Tax Reform on Fox News", "2017-12-19", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Rob Portman", "P000449", "www.portman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "During an interview of Fox News today, Senator Portman, who served as a conferee on the House-Senate conference committee discussed how tax reform will help the middle class, create jobs, and boost wages for American workers. Portman, who has held six tax reform roundtables in Ohio with local business leaders in recent months, has been vocal on the national stage calling for tax reform, including during recent interviews on CBS This Morning, Fox News, CNN, CNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg TV, and NBCs Meet The Press twice, as well as recently in op-eds in the Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Delaware Gazette, and Cincinnati Enquirer. The tax reform effort is widely supported by Ohio small businesses, manufacturers, farmers, and other state and local organizations.\r\nExcerpts can be found below and a video can be found here.\r\nPORTMAN ON IF VICE PRESIDENT PENCES VOTE WILL BE NEEDED\r\nI dont think he will be needed. Im glad hes there and I know hes really excited about this tax cut and tax reform proposal. We have the votes. We saw that on the vote that just occurred, which was the motion to proceed on this legislation. Republicans all stuck together. So did Democrats. But there were enough votes to get it done without the Vice President breaking the tie.\r\nPORTMAN ON HOW TAX REFORM WILL HELP THE MIDDLE CLASS\r\nI think my colleagues are going to stick together because its exactly what weve been talking about for years. It does provide real middle-class tax cuts, but it also gives the economy an important shot in the arm that you and I have talked about on this program for years, which is to make us competitive againto make America the best place to do business. Thats going to create even more help to middle-class families in Ohio and around the country because youre going to see wages will start to go up.\r\nPORTMAN ON DOUBLING THE STANDARD DEDUCTION\r\nMany people who take the standard deduction wont have to change anything because they havent taken deductions. About two thirds of the people I represent already take the standard deduction. That doubles to $24,000 for a family instead of $12,000 for a family, which means probably 95 percent of the people I represent are going to take the standard deduction. There will be some opportunity there to clarify what your status is and what deductions youre still taking. Most people wont itemize. The vast majority of people will do the simpler form. Thats part of the simplification of this and its also part of how you get middle class tax cuts because that first $24,000 is essentially a zero bracket.\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=902DE4AE-49EA-4F8E-8372-C7FD205D3C0D"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5291499439626932, "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"}