{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=bffbdc53-5b00-4362-900c-0cae535a2573", "Portman Discusses Budget, Trade & Tax Reform on Bloomberg Television\u2019s \"Political Capital with Al Hunt\"", "2013-12-22", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Rob Portman", "P000449", "www.portman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) appeared on Bloomberg Television\u2019s \u201cPolitical Capital with Al Hunt,\" where he discussed the recent bipartisan budget agreement and the need to do more to reform our important but unsustainable entitlement programs.\u00a0 In addition, Portman urged Congress to approve new free trade agreements and move forward with an overhaul of our inefficient and antiquated tax code in the new year.\r\nWatch the full interview here.\u00a0 Excerpts are included below.\r\nPortman on the Bipartisan Budget Agreement and the Debt Limit Debate:\r\nPORTMAN: I hope what it is, is a first step toward further collaboration, because our country\u2019s in trouble. You know, we have a fiscal crisis looming. We still have an economy that\u2019s too weak, and we need to work together to solve these problems. So I like to view it as a very small step, a baby step in the right direction. It did reduce the deficit a little bit. It did it without raising taxes. It kept us from going into a government shutdown in January, but also in September of next year. And finally, it put the United States Congress back on track to do appropriations bills.  ...\r\nPORTMAN: It did not address the underlying problem. And it\u2019s so obvious. The problem is that two-thirds of spending, as you know, is on autopilot. That part of our spending goes to 76 percent in the next 10 years. It\u2019s where all the growth is. If we don\u2019t address it, it will bankrupt the country. These incredibly important programs, like Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, are not sustainable in their current form. We\u2019ve got to get at those. The only time we\u2019ve done it in the last three decades, Al, has been through a debt limit discussion. So let\u2019s use the debt limit, not to spook financial markets - in fact, to give them more assurance we\u2019re actually going to do the right thing.\"\r\nPortman on Trade:\r\nHUNT: Big news this week. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is going to be designated as the ambassador to China. He\u2019s been the leading Democratic voice in the Senate on trade. What effect is this going to have, if any, on any trade legislation next year, fast-track or the Trans-Pacific? Will anything happen?\r\nPORTMAN: Well, I talked to Max Baucus about this yesterday. One, before he leaves, we\u2019re going to get some stuff done, I hope...\r\nHUNT: On trade?\r\nPORTMAN: On trade, including moving trade promotion authority forward. The president wants it. I\u2019m glad he wants it, Al. This is the first administration since FDR that didn\u2019t want it until March of this year.\r\nHUNT: And you think you can get that done before Max Baucus leaves?\r\nPORTMAN: I\u2019m hopeful that we can. You know, sometimes these confirmations take a little while. And hopefully we can get that done.\r\nHUNT: How about Trans-Pacific?\r\nPORTMAN: The TPP, which is the Trans-Pacific Partnership - a lot of alphabet soup here - I think has to follow TPA. I don\u2019t think that the United States can negotiate the final agreement without letting countries know that we have a fast-track way to get this done for a yes-or-no vote on the floor of the House and Senate. So I think you have to start with TPA. That\u2019s certainly been the experience over the years. So let\u2019s get that done first. Then I think it\u2019ll be easier to deal with the Trans-Pacific Partnership.\r\nPortman on Tax Reform:\r\nHUNT: Max Baucus also was the Democratic - foremost Democratic champion of some kind of tax reform, working with Dave Camp in the House. That\u2019s pretty much dead now, isn\u2019t it?\r\nPORTMAN: No, actually..\r\nHUNT: In this Congress, will we have big tax reform?\r\nPORTMAN: On trade and taxes, I would also make the obvious point that Ron Wyden is the likely successor as chairman of that committee. I spoke to Ron about this today, in fact. He is very interested in the trade agenda, always has been. He believes in trade. He thinks we ought to knock down barriers to trade. I worked with him when I was U.S. Trade Representative.\r\nAnd on tax reform, you know, Ron\u2019s been very aggressive on that. In fact, he has his own tax reform proposal that lowers the rate and broadens the base.\r\nHUNT: But you don\u2019t think you can get it done in this Congress, though, do you?\r\nPORTMAN: Well, not this year, certainly, but next year, I think if Dave Camp and Ron Wyden join forces, as he and Max Baucus were starting to do, I think it can still happen. I think it is unlikely to happen right after the first of the year, which is what some of us thought might be the timeframe.\r\nHUNT: Right.\r\nPORTMAN: I think the House has to report out a bill first, and probably that doesn\u2019t happen until the springtime, and then I think the Senate under Ron Wyden\u2019s leadership with the Finance Committee and Orrin Hatch, who\u2019s very interested in tax reform, I think we have a shot at it. And if we don\u2019t do it, Al, we are hurting American jobs, because right now, our antiquated and inefficient tax code makes it more advantageous to be a foreign company than to be a U.S. company. That makes no sense.", 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=bffbdc53-5b00-4362-900c-0cae535a2573"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4254918787628412, "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"}