Dear Editor:
With the 117th Congress coming to a close and my retirement from public service nearing, I wanted to express my gratitude for the opportunity to serve all of Ohio over the past 12 years.
I have considered it a great honor to be given a chance to represent my neighbors in Ohio. I have relied on information and opinions from every corner of our state to better represent Ohio.
I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish for Ohio and the country by working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find common ground where possible.
I have either authored or co-authored more than 200 bills to help Ohio and the country that have been signed into law by presidents of both parties.
One reason I decided to run for Senate was to help protect American jobs, innovation, and investment here at home.
I have been proud to work on efforts to do just that, such as spearheading the 2017 tax reform and tax cut law, leading negotiations to make historic in-vestments in our nation’s infrastructure through the bipartisan infrastructure law, and the CHIPs Act, which is bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. and, specifically, Ohio.
I co-chaired the Career and Technical Education Caucus and passed legislation to address the nation’s skill gap and provide people with the tools they need to secure good-paying jobs.
I also helped lead efforts to expand retirement security savings, add new taxpayer rights, and reform the IRS.
I’ve been proud to work with my coLleagues to help the most vulnerable in our society, starting with addressing the addiction crisis through our landmark Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act and my legislation to stop the flood of fentanyl being shipped into our com-munities.
When a website began facilitating the trafficking of women and children online, I investigated the company as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee-tee on Investigations and passed legislation that shut the website and similar sites down permanently.
As an avid outdoorsman, protecting and preserving our natural resources has always been a top priority.
As co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, I worked to protect the world’s largest surface freshwater resource which is Ohio’s number one tourist destination and provides drinking water for 11 million people, the Great Lakes.
I worked with my colleagues to pass the most significant national parks conservation legislation in more than a generation, my Restore Our Parks Act.
I am also proud of my work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to combat global disinformation and propaganda and lead the United States’ efforts in response to the unprovoked and illegal war by Russia against Ukraine.
I believe strongly that the U.S. must stand by our ally, and that if we do, Ukraine can defeat Russia and regain its sovereign territory.
Our country continues to face significant challenges, whether it be our economy and record inflation, our national debt that is robbing future generation of Americans, the absence of any real border security and our broken immigration system, or the looming insolvency of our entitlement programs.
These issues won’t be solved by one party imposing its will on the other or on the country. They will only be solved by us working together in good faith.
Sincerely,
Rob Portman, U.S. Senator