Tag: Sherrod Brown

Portman and Brown Join Forces to Solve Pension Crisis

Anthony Gockowski

Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at giving Ohio workers and retirees a seat at the table when it comes to solving the nation’s looming pension crisis. As The Ohio Star previously reported, an estimated six million retirees and four million workers in the United States rely on multi-employer pension plans, called “MEPPs” for short, which are collectively bargained plans maintained by more than one employer to limit risk. A report conduct by Matrix Global Advisors CEO Alex Brill and sponsored by Protect Our Workers’ Earned Retirement (POWER) predicts that the Pension Benefit Guarantee Program—the federal backstop for MEPPs—is itself expected to “be insolvent in less than a decade.” The Central States Pension Fund, one of the largest MEPPs in the country, will also be insolvent by 2025, according to the report. “Even after legislative fixes to improve plans’ financial status in 2006 and 2014, one-third of the 10 million participants are in plans that are headed toward either a funding deficiency or insolvency. More than 1 million people are in plans expected to be insolvent within 20 years,” Brill states in his report. This could have a devastating effect on the…

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Sherrod Brown Lashes Out at Trump, Calls Wall ‘Vanity Project’

Anthony Gockowski

National Senate Democrats released a report Monday showing that President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration could divert $112 million in funding away from military projects in Ohio. According to The Columbus Dispatch, the cuts could impact a $61 million plan for a new building for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Other cuts could include $8.8 million in funding just to relocate the main gate at Youngstown Air Reserve Station. Projects like a $7.4 million machine gun range at Camp James A. Garfield, and a $15 million hangar at Toledo Express Airport were also on the list. Morgan Rako, spokeswoman for Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH-10), noted that the “list does not indicate which projects specifically will have delayed funding, if any.” She also pointed out that Trump’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposal actually includes $121 million in funding for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base intelligence center. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), however, claimed that Trump is “hurting military missions by taking money away from Ohio military installations to pay for his vanity project.” “President Trump claims he wants to help workers and support our military, yet his actions tell a different story,” Brown said in…

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Ohio’s Republican Senator Rob Portman Joins Senate Democrats in Voting Against Trump’s National Emergency Declaration

Anthony Gockowski

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and 11 of his Republican colleagues joined Senate Democrats Thursday in voting against President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration. In a 59-41 vote, the Senate passed a bill that would terminate Trump’s emergency declaration, though the president has already said he will veto the resolution. Portman announced his intention to vote in line with his Democratic colleagues during a Thursday morning speech on the Senate floor. “From the outset of this process I’ve had two objectives. One, to support the president on the crisis at the border. I believe his plan to address that crisis is a good one—we should support it. But second, to do it in the right way without setting a dangerous new precedent counter to a fundamental constitutional principle, without tying up the needed funds for the border in the courts, and without taking funds away from important military construction projects for our troops” Portman said. Portman later said of Ohio, which has “been devastated by the opioid epidemic,” that “over 90 percent of the heroin is coming across the southern border.” “Yesterday I learned from Customs and Border Protection that fentanyl seizures along the border between the ports of entry has…

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We Build the Wall, Inc. in Ohio: ‘You, Sherrod Brown, are Complicit in the Death of This Lady’s Daughter’

Anthony Gockowski

CINCINNATI, Ohio – We Build the Wall, Inc., an organization launched by triple-amputee veteran Brian Kolfage, hosted its second town hall Tuesday night in downtown Cincinnati. Kolfage drew national media attention in December for launching a GoFundMe page to help pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall, and has now received more than $20 million in donations. The event began with a standing ovation for Kolfage, who said his “team of experts” is prepared to break ground on building sections of the wall by the end of April. “I was just fed up with the way our politicians were handling it. I’m just a common person like you guys just sitting on my couch pissed off,” Kolfage said of his fundraiser. “It didn’t seem like our politicians were taking it serious, and for as long as I can remember we’ve been promised border security. We’re always promised this and they weren’t followed through, and I’d had enough of it.” While the town hall was held in Ohio, thousands of miles from the southern border, Tuesday night’s group of panelists repeatedly emphasized that the border crisis affects the whole country. “I’m in Cincinnati very simply because the border crisis is in Ohio.…

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What Sherrod Brown Refusing to Run Means for 2020 and the Future of Ohio

Andrew Shirley

Ohio’s only potential 2020 contender announced Thursday that he wouldn’t run for president. After taking a three-month tour of key battleground states, dubbed the “Dignity of Work” Tour, Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown’s decision shocked many who saw him as one of the best chances to defeat President Trump. No one can say for certain why he chose not to run, but a great deal can be said about what his not running means. As previously reported, Sherrod Brown’s entire campaign strategy revolved around him being able to harmonize a message that would appeal to the blue-collar working class that turned away from Democrats in 2016, with the recent Democratic-Socialist philosophy that currently dominates that 2020 Democratic political conversation. His plan was to reach out to blue-collar workers across America and declared; “dignity of work means hard work should pay off for everyone, no matter who you are or what kind of work you do.” That having a job wasn’t enough; one must have security and prosperity. From here, he inferred that he would tack into Democratic-socialist programs like major healthcare expansions, free college tuition, and a $15 minimum wage. This would give him a cross-base advantage as he would be able to appeal to…

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Sherrod Brown Makes Final Stop in Dignity of Work Tour

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown arrived in South Carolina Friday in the final planned stop on his three-month “Dignity of Work” tour. The official aim of the tour, which began in January, was to share “some of his ideas to make hard work pay off for everyone.” Unofficially, the tour has been an attempt to “test the waters” to see if he would be a viable candidate for a potential 2020 run. The tour took the Senator to Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, which are all considered critical battleground states in presidential elections. While it appears he will conclude the tour without announcing his candidacy, the tour did, as far his public statements are concerned, seem to fully convince him that his campaign would have one unassailable advantage over his opponents. In an interview with Buzzfeed, Brown stated: It has surprised us that this many people, including Republicans, that this many people have begun to talk about the dignity of work. I don’t think they flesh it out well enough yet or extensively enough. I think they mean it. I don’t mean there’s any insincerity in it. But I think we can’t do it enough … I carry it better than anybody else…

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Ohio State Democratic Legislator Introduces Bill to Move Presidential Primary From March to May

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Democratic State Rep. Jack Cera (D-96) has introduced a bill that would permanently delay the Ohio presidential primary by two months, a move that could have major implications for Ohio. House Bill 101 (HB 101) would officially move the Ohio primary from March to “the first Tuesday after the first Monday in May.” Currently, Ohio’s early March primary has made it one of a handful of seminal states in several recent presidential primaries. The state has already lost a significant amount of presidential election “clout” with its number of electoral votes dropping to a historical low of 16. The move would also have a significant effect on state revenues just as the amount of money spent on electoral races continues to climb at shocking rates. By delaying the primary, the value of airtime in the state is also delayed. In addition, it could be the death knell of one prominent Ohioan’s presidential aspirations. Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown had long maintained that his resonance in Ohio is one of his key political advantages, should he decide to run in 2020. The Ohio senator was one of the only Democrats to win re-election in the 2018 midterm. Most surprising, he did so by close to…

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Sherrod Brown: If I Run I Will be ‘The Most Pro-Union, Pro-Worker Candidate’

Andrew Shirley

Saturday, before an assembly of the Culinary Union – the most powerful workers union in Las Vegas – Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown declared that should he run, he would be “The Most Pro-Union, Pro-Worker Candidate” out of the entire field. He stated, “I will always fight for workers, I will always be on the side of workers.” Brown also announced that should he become president, he would immediately convene a meeting of key industry leaders and encourage them to pay their workers, at least, a minimum wage of $15. He did not say that he would introduce a $15 minimum wage bill, however, only that he would encourage corporations to pay a minimum wage of $15 per hour. The Ohio Senator is in the middle of his “Dignity of Work” tour and has been traveling to key presidential battleground states to advocate for “workers-first policies.” He stated that he would make his formal decision whether or not to run sometime next month. His declaration to be the most “pro-union” candidate is at odds with his oft-repeated campaign positioning strategy of being a center-progressive who can win moderate votes. By vowing to take pro-union positions that would put him to the left…

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Mainstream Media Turns on Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Senator and potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sherrod Brown is in trouble. In these early moves before formally announcing his candidacy, Brown has been focusing on courting both sides of the political spectrum. On the right, he has attempted to present himself as a populist candidate whose blue-collar priorities would have wide appeal with the working class candidates that propelled President Trump to victory. On the left, he has focused on aggressive anti-Wall Street and anti-corporate rhetoric while emphasizing greater government regulation. While the strategy has shown potential, the first cracks are starting to form. The Ohio senator is now facing scrutiny from both sides aisle. On the right side, he has received significant criticism for his refusal to support Trump’s revised U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). One of the key issues in 2016 that galvanized many working-class voters to support Trump was opposition to NAFTA and a desire to see it replaced. While he claims that he still wishes to replace the agreement, it strikes many as hollow and having more to do with a blanket opposition to Trump. Should he prove unable to shake this perception, it is likely he…

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Sherrod Brown Breaks from Beto Signialing a Divide on Border Wall

Andrew Shirley

It appears there’s a new buzzword in the ongoing debate over the border wall. Sunday, when asked how he felt about former congressman, and potential 202o presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s proposal to destroy all existing barriers on the Mexico-US border, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown refused to concur with his potential 2020 opponent, citing the need for border security, just not a “long wall.” The term “long wall” seems to be the latest pivot for Democrats who have vehemently opposed President Donald Trump’s planned border wall, yet concede that border security needs to exist. This could be the beginning of the latest divide from within Democratic ranks. While no “long wall” currently extends over the entire length of the 2,000-mile border between Mexico and the U.S., there are almost 600 miles of fences, walls, and other barriers that are currently standing. Some of these barriers go back to the Clinton Administration. The majority of these walls were built specifically in areas with high concentrations of drug trafficking, human trafficking, and illegal entry and assist the understaffed border security agents. Former congressman O’Rourke has asserted that walls kill more people than they save, noting; We know that walls do not save lives. Walls end lives,…In the last ten years,…

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Sherrod Brown Was Asked the Difference Between Him and Klobuchar – His Response Might Eliminate Him from a Presidential Run

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by Molly Prince   Washington, D.C. — Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown was unable to explain on Tuesday what would differentiate his possible presidential candidacy from fellow Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who recently launched a bid for the presidency. “Well, I don’t know,” Brown replied when asked during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor what would be the difference between his campaign and Klobuchar’s if they were to both seek the Democratic nomination in 2020. Brown, who like Klobuchar, hails from the midwest, was confronted with the similarities between the demographic that they both appeal to such as blue collared workers, white collared workers and anti-Trump Republicans. [ RELATED: Sherrod Brown Embarks On ‘Dignity Of Work’ Tour In Key Primary States ] “I will calculate all that but I um, I like Amy. I think Amy brings something, everybody brings something to the table. That’s not in any way to diminish her,” Brown said. “Um, she brings something to the table, a little different from, a little different and differently, from the others.” Brown noted that while Klobuchar has had electoral success, she is not from a swing state like Ohio because Minnesota has “gone to the Democrat…

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Sherrod Brown Takes Shots at President Trump in New Hampshire Visit

Zachery Schmidt

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) took shots at President Donald Trump this weekend in New Hampshire by calling his populism “phony” and saying he’s a “bully.” Brown’s “Dignity of Work” tour made two stops in New Hampshire over the weekend in a visit to the state with the second earliest primary. At a Friday round-table event about jobs and the economy, the Ohio senator commented on Trump’s populism when talking to reporters. “His phony populism is you divide people and you push people down to lift some others up. Real populism is not racist. It’s not anti-Semitic. It doesn’t divide people. It doesn’t do hate speech and real populism is fighting for workers,” Brown told Fox News  Friday in Hampton, New Hampshire. 2020 Watch-NOW: Asked if there are already too many progressive populists in the Democratic nomination race, @SherrodBrown -in NH- tells @seacoastonline @foxnewspolitics "I put my record up against anybody for fighting for workers" #NHPolitics #FITN #2020Election pic.twitter.com/rbx5nvnbkB — Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) February 8, 2019 The next day at a bookstore event in Concord, New Hampshire, he called Trump a “bully,” according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.  “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I don’t know if we…

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Sherrod Brown Calls Howard Schultz a ‘Total Idiot’ After Announcing Independent Run

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is not mincing words when it comes to former Starbucks CEO, and 2020 independent candidate hopeful, Howard Schultz. Within 24 hours of launching his “Dignity of Work” tour, Brown told a group of voters that Schultz was a “total idiot.” Strangely, the Senator was not prompted, in any way, as to what his opinion on Schultz was. The broadside came on Friday during a farmers roundtable in Perry, Iowa. When a voter expressed his concern with dark money and PACs during the 2020 cycle, Brown interjected: “Yeah, I mean you got this idiot Schultz running, maybe. He’s an idiot, I mean, he’s a total idiot.” Schultz has neither formally launched his candidacy, nor has established a disproportionate amount of PACs supporting him at this point. It can be inferred that Senator Brown was referencing the fact that Schultz is the first billionaire to enter the race. When the voter continued his question, directly asking the Ohio senator  if he would accept PAC money, he replied: “Well, I have not decided yet.” He then intimated that it doesn’t matter where the money comes from as his record speaks for itself. The issue of PAC money is already proving to…

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Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s ‘Dignity of Work’ Tour Slammed by RNC

Andrew Shirley

Republican National Committee Spokesperson Mandi Merritt issued a blistering broadside Wednesday against Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and his “Dignity of Work” tour. She stated: As Sherrod Brown takes his phony pro-workers’ agenda to the early primary states, he risks abandoning his own Ohio constituents. Ohio didn’t sign up for a part-time Senator, and by partaking in the Democrats’ turbocharged race to the left, Brown is bound to leave Ohio voters in the dust. Brown’s ‘Dignity of Work’ tour has nothing to do with fighting for hard-working families, and everything to do with Brown’s own political ambitions. Senator Brown’s “Dignity of Work” tour is scheduled to take him from Iowa, to New Hampshire, South Carolina, and then Nevada. As previously reported, much of his political platform hinges appealing to the populist blue-collar, politically moderate, working class and far-left democratic-socialist progressives. He intends to see if his many democratic-socialist positions will appeal to voters in these key battleground states. In 2016, many of those blue-collar moderates ended up siding with President Trump. In 2018, Brown was the only Democratic legislator in the Buckeye State to win or maintain his seat. Next year in what promises to be a highly-charged (and very crowded) presidential election cycle, Brown will be in…

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As Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown Plans 2020 Run, High Dollar Backers Complicate His Future

Andrew Shirley

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has made it very clear that the Oval Office is in his sights. Coming off a six-point reelection victory, the only nonjudicial Democrat to win in Ohio in 2018, Brown has been working behind the scenes to build the infrastructure, support, and endorsements necessary to mount a challenge to President Donald Trump in 2020. However, the third-term Democrat’s presidential campaign may already be over before its even been announced. With as many as 30 Democrats reportedly considering 2020 presidential runs, some of the most visible progressive legislators have inadvertently sent stringent political litmus tests that will leave many contenders in a difficult position. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), and other assertively progressive candidates have made public overtures about the evil and corrupting nature of high dollar fundraising, special interest group funds, PAC’s, Super PAC’s, and other forms of corporate backing. Most of these candidates tout their reelection successes through only small individual donations as evidence of how unnecessary these election tools are. These candidates are now condemning any candidate, Democrat or Republican, who accepts funding from these entities. In 2016, a major talking point for Sanders’ presidential campaign was that his average campaign donation was $27,…

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Commentary: Can Ohio’s Sherrod Brown Return the Dems to Blue-Collar Roots?

Admin

by Henry Olsen   Senator Sherrod Brown is one of many Democrats considering a run for the White House. His name likely does not ring a bell, as he has not garnered the national attention that other potential rivals have. Many observers think he could be a formidable opponent for President Trump should he gain the Democratic nomination. The evidence, however, suggests that might be easier said than done. The case for Brown starts—and often stops—with his long courting of Ohio’s working-class voters, usually with favorable results. He has doggedly opposed free trade deals throughout his Senate career, even leading the effort to defeat the Central American Free Trade Association (CAFTA) during the Bush Administration. A consistent ally of Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the Senate, Brown’s economic populism nevertheless stems from a labor union rather than a doctrinaire social democratic outlook. That viewpoint, the argument goes, makes him a solid choice to battle Trump for the loyalties of the white working-class voter whose defection from the Democrats made Trump president. That argument overlooks, however, Brown’s distinctly non-working-class views on nearly every other issue. Brown has one of the most progressive records in the Senate on a raft of issues, not…

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Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown Takes Next Step Towards a Run for President, Picks His Campaign Slogan

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by Molly Prince   Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown has chosen his campaign slogan for a potential presidential run while he is still mulling over a challenge to President Donald Trump in 2020. Brown, notable for his “rumpled” image and more than 40-year public service tenure in Ohio, is exhibiting his midwestern liberal populism with a concise slogan: “The Dignity of Work,” reported Politico on Wednesday. “Ohio will respond to a message of the dignity of work,” said the Ohio senator. “It’s gonna be harder in 2020 than Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but it always has been.” Democrats eyeing a potential 2020 presidential run have largely focused on the rust belt, which helped elect Trump in 2016. Brown nearly stands alone as one of the possible contenders who has a successful track record in the region. While Trump won Ohio by 8 points against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brown beat out his Republican challenger in the 2018 midterm election by just over 6 points. In fact, he was the only Democrat to win statewide in 2018, aside from judicial candidates. The Ohio senator conceded that he hasn’t definitively made up his mind whether or not he is officially launching…

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Trump To Spend Day In Ohio While Governor Kasich Sits On the Sidelines

Anthony Gockowski

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are heading to Columbus, Ohio Friday for a series of charity events and fundraisers, but one familiar face will be noticeably absent. Trump will headline the Ohio Republican Party state dinner Friday night, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has been at odds with the president ever since he first laid eyes on him, will not be attending. “I don’t need to be going to that dinner,” Kasich told the press Tuesday, saying that he will instead spend time with his college-bound daughter. Kasich skipped the same dinner last year when it was announced that Vice President Mike Pence would be speaking. Most recently, the two butted-heads over Republican Troy Balderson’s slim primary victory in his bid to lead Ohio’s 12th Congressional District, with Trump placing the blame on Kasich. “The very unpopular Governor of Ohio (and failed presidential candidate) John Kasich hurt Troy Balderson’s recent win by tamping down enthusiasm for an otherwise great candidate. Even Kasich’s Lt. Governor lost Gov. race because of his unpopularity. Credit to Troy on the big win!” Trump tweeted. Prior to Friday’s dinner, Trump will attend a fundraiser for Republican Senate candidate Jim Renacci, who…

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