PRESS RELEASE – Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) released the following statement following his vote to lower taxes and preserve tax cuts for working Ohioans and their families.
“Today is good news for Ohioans who want to keep more of the money they earn, have access to good jobs, run successful small businesses, live in communities that are protected by a secure border and see America reassert itself as the most confident nation with the strongest military in the world. This bill will make America safer, stronger and more prosperous.
“If Democrats had succeeded in torpedoing this bill, the average Ohio household would see their taxes increase by $2,140. Families who would have seen their child tax credit sliced by $1,000 will instead see it rise to $2,200.”
“If Democrats had killed this bill, America’s military would be unable to modernize in response to urgent threats from adversaries like Iran, China and Russia. Law enforcement would lack critical resources to take dangerous illegal criminals out of Ohio communities and off U.S. soil.”
“By prioritizing working Americans, fueling jobs and economic growth, preserving benefits for those in need and making historic spending cuts, this bill gets us on a path toward a more successful, sustainable future.”
This budget bill makes Ohio communities safer by:
1. Funding border security measures at the southern border and on Lake Erie. This funding will help identify people illegally in America who have committed crimes, getting them off the streets and returned to their home countries.
2. Modernizing and overhauls the U.S. air traffic control system. This budget bill makes Ohioans and Americans more prosperous by:
3. Preventing tax hikes that would cost the average American family of four earning $80,000 an extra $1,700 in federal taxes. The average Ohio household would have owed an additional $2,140 in federal taxes if Republicans had not passed this budget bill.
4. Making permanent the 2017 tax cuts, which lowered tax rates for working Americans and every income bracket.
5. Protecting and strengthening Medicaid for vulnerable, sick, and impoverished Americans.
Specifically, the bill will combat abuse by ensuring deceased individuals are not enrolled in Medicaid. It will also reduce the estimated 1.4 million individuals who receive Medicaid benefits in multiple states.
The bill will require able-bodied adults who do not have young children to work or volunteer 20 hours per week in exchange for their generous Medicaid benefits.
“Republicans are doing the country a fiscal and cultural favor by shoring up the program for the poor and disabled,” according to the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.
6. Increasing the child tax credit to $2,200. It also makes the increase permanent and indexes it to inflation. This increase benefits 1.3 million Ohio families.
Democrats fought to cut the child tax credit by $1,000. If Democrats had succeeded in blocking this budget bill, 208,000 Ohio jobs would have been jeopardized.
7. Increasing the standard deduction to $15,750 for single filers and $31,750 for joint filers, makes the deduction permanent and indexes it to inflation.
If Democrats had succeeded in blocking this budget bill, 5.3 million Ohio families would have seen their standard deduction cut in half. Ninety percent of taxpayers use this standard deduction.
8. Increasing the death tax exemption to $15 million for single filers and $30 million for joint filers by including provisions of the Death Tax Repeal Act, which Husted has cosponsored.
If Democrats had succeeded in blocking this budget bill, 76,009 Ohio family farms could have seen their death tax relief cut in half.
9. Protecting the 20% small business deduction. If Democrats had succeeded in blocking this budget bill, 842,000 Ohio small businesses would have lost their small business tax deduction.
This protection is projected to create 1.2 million new jobs annually for the next decade, and 2.4 million more annually after that.
10. Enabling job creators to immediately expense investments in new factories, which boosts manufacturing in states like Ohio.
11. Enabling job creators to immediately expense investments in capital investments in machinery and equipment, which boosts manufacturing in states like Ohio.
12. Enabling job creators to permanently expense research and development expenses by including provisions from the American Innovation and Jobs Act, which Husted has co-sponsored.
13. Supporting Ohio families and vulnerable children by making the adoption tax credit partially refundable up to $5,000.
14. Including no tax on tips by providing a $25,000 deduction for qualified tips.
15. Including no tax on overtime by providing a $12,500 deduction for single filers and $25,000 deduction for joint filers.
16. Expanding the annual deduction for senior citizens to $6,000.
17. Including no tax on car loan interest by providing a $10,000 deduction for cars assembled in the U.S.
18. Supporting Ohio families by establishing tax-advantaged savings accounts for parents, allowing annual contributions of up to $10,000.
19. Supporting Ohioans with disabilities by increasing the tax credit that people with disabilities can claim when they contribute to tax-free ABLE accounts. Husted is a cosponsor of the ENABLE Act.
20. Helping Ohioans become career-ready by expanding Pell Grant eligibility for those enrolled in short-term, accredited, workforce-aligned programs. Husted has cosponsored similar legislation to expand workforce Pell eligibility.
21. Supporting Cleveland’s NASA Glenn research center by fully funding the Gateway lunar space station for FY 2026-2028 and the Artemis missions through Artemis V.
22. Supporting educational attainment and freedom for Ohio families by providing a school choice tax credit. Husted has cosponsored similar legislation, the Education School Choice for Children Act.
This budget bill makes America’s national defense stronger by:
23. Providing $400 million to accelerate production of the Air Force’s F-47 sixth-generation air superiority aircraft and $678 million to accelerate development of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.
24. Modernizing America’s national defenses by making initial investments into the Golden Dome air and missile defense system, re-stocking crucial munitions, rebuilding U.S. supply chains for critical minerals and expanding America’s advanced manufacturing capacity.
25. Investing in scaling production of innovative low-cost and next-gen weapons like drones, counter-drone technology, cheap munitions and artificial intelligence.
This bill makes American energy stronger and Ohio energy cheaper:
1. Extending the clean hydrogen production tax credit to Jan. 1, 2028, which helps ensure continued sustainability of Ohio’s Appalachian Clean Energy Hub, ARCH2.
2. Eliminating the Inflation Reduction Act’s natural gas tax for 10 years.
3. Reversing Democrats’ anti-energy policies and bolsters American energy production by expanding oil, gas and coal leasing.