Rob's Rundown: Week of October 2-6, 2017 Sen. Portman's Week in Review

This week, Senator Portman focused his efforts on reforming our broken tax code to help create jobs, boost wages, and increase opportunity for all Americans. Portman also continued to build momentum for his bipartisan Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, urged Congress to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and more. For an in depth look at Senator Portman’s week, please see the following: Tuesday, October 3 On Fox Business, Portman Discusses Tax Reform, Puerto Rico & Las Vegas During an interview on Fox Business, Portman discussed his efforts to simplify and reform the tax code to create more jobs and increase wages, the ongoing relief efforts in Puerto Rico, and the horrific shooting in Las Vegas. Excerpts of the interview can be found here and a video can be found here. Senators Welcome Support from IBM for the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act Senators Portman and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) issued the following joint statement welcoming the support of IBM for passing the bipartisan Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act: “There is significant and growing bipartisan support for the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, and we are pleased that IBM has added its important voice to this effort. We have a responsibility to hold online sex traffickers accountable and ensure that trafficking survivors can get the justice they deserve.  This narrowly-crafted bill would accomplish that goal.  It’s time for the Senate to act.”  NOTE: Oracle, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, 21st Century Fox, and the Walt Disney Company all recently endorsed this legislation—in addition to dozens of anti-human trafficking and law enforcement groups. The full text of IBM’s letter of support is here. At Senate Finance Hearing, Portman Urges Action on Tax Reform During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on international tax reform, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) urged congressional action on tax reform, saying that our “outdated, antiquated, and broken” tax code is “hurting us and it’s hurting the workers I represent.” Portman, who has been a leader in efforts to reform the tax code and protect taxpayer rights, has been vocal in support of reforming the tax code to help create jobs, increase wages, and lead to greater opportunity for all Americans. Portman chaired the conclusion of the hearing and discussed in depth how tax reform will help grow the economy. Transcript of his remarks can be found here. Video of his first line of questioning can be found here. The second line of questioning can be found here. Portman, Finance Committee Republicans Urge HHS to Increase Safeguards Against Opioid Fraud Portman, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and nine other committee Republicans today urged Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Don Wright to increase safeguards against opioid fraud. In a letter, Finance Committee Republicans requested information about actions HHS is taking to prevent opioid abuse among Medicare Part D providers and beneficiaries. “We appreciate that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the current Administration, continues to identify our nation’s opioid epidemic as a top priority,” the senators wrote in the letter. “While HHS and others are diligently working to address this multi-faceted problem, it is clear that more must be done. Further collaboration between the HHS and members of the Committee on Finance to address this growing epidemic is necessary to improve the lives of individuals and families, protect our communities, and ensure the appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.” Joining Portman and Chairman Hatch were Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Pat Roberts (R-KS), John Cornyn (R-TX), John Thune (R-SD), Richard Burr (R-NC), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Tim Scott (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA). The full letter may be found here. House Passes Portman-Kaine Bill to Promote Early Hearing Detection in Newborns, Infants & Young Children Senators Portman and Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, today announced that the House of Representatives passed their bipartisan Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act, legislation that will reauthorize current research and improve public health programs for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing loss in newborns, infants, and young children. The Senate passed the bill on September 6, 2017.  The measure is now headed to the president’s desk for his signature. “Early hearing detection is critical because children with hearing loss often fall behind their peers in speech development, cognitive skills, and social skills,” said Portman. “This bill takes important steps to improve early hearing detection and intervention for newborns, infants, and young children. I am pleased my House colleagues acted quickly on this important legislation, and I urge the president to sign it into law.” “The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is pleased that the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) legislation has passed in the House and Senate and is headed to the president’s desk,” said ASHA President Gail Richard, PhD, CCC-SLP. “We are grateful for the efforts of Senators Portman and Kaine as well as Congressmen Guthrie and Matsui in promoting this legislation. The EHDI program has been successful in ensuring hearing screening at birth for more than 97 percent of all newborns. This legislation will build on the success of the program and place more emphasis on ensuring that those identified with a hearing loss receive the care they need.” NOTE: The Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act reauthorizes current research and public health activities related to early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing loss in newborns and infants. In addition, to ensure the continued success of existing early hearing detection and intervention programs, the bill makes a number of key improvements. Specifically, this bill expands early hearing detection and intervention programs to include young children, improves access to appropriate follow-up and intervention services when hearing loss is identified, and clarifies the roles of the Centers for Disease Control and the Health Resources and Services Administration. For more information, go here. Wednesday. October 4 Portman Praises Senate Finance Committee Passage of Bipartisan CHIP Program During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Portman praised committee passage of the bipartisan Keeping Kids’ Insurance Dependable and Secure (KIDS) Act, legislation that extends funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Portman released the following statement: “I am pleased the Senate Finance Committee acted today to protect a vital program that helps 219,000 Ohio kids and nine million children nationwide get high-quality health coverage. With Ohio’s CHIP funding set to run out by the end of this year, it is critical that the Senate move quickly to extend this funding so that children and families who rely on this program are not left behind and so that low-income kids can reach their God-given potential.” Transcript of excerpts of Portman’s remarks at the Finance hearing on CHIP as well as other of his key legislative priorities can be found here. A video can be found here. Senate Homeland Security Committee Passes Bipartisan Portman-Hassan Hack DHS Act On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed the bipartisan Hack Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Act, which was introduced by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH). The bill, which is also cosponsored by Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), would establish a bug bounty pilot program – modeled off of similar programs at the Department of Defense and major tech companies – in order to strengthen cyber defenses at DHS by utilizing “white-hat” or ethical hackers to help identify unique and undiscovered vulnerabilities in the DHS networks and information technology. Bipartisan companion legislation has also been introduced in the U.S. House by Congressmen Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Scott Taylor (R-VA). “The networks and systems at DHS are vital to the security of Ohioans and all Americans.  It is imperative that we take every step to protect our DHS networks from the threats they face every day. One important tool would be to incentivize ethical hackers in the private sector to find vulnerabilities before bad actors do. I applaud the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for approving this important bill and look forward to working with Senator Hassan to continue building support in the Senate to protect DHS from cyber threats,” Senator Portman said. NOTE: As the Department in charge of helping to secure all “.gov” domains, as well as critical infrastructure throughout the country, DHS must ensure that its own networks and information technology are free from unintended or unidentified vulnerabilities. The Hack DHS Act will establish a bug bounty program based on the Department of Defense’s pilot program. Under the bill, payments would be provided to white-hat hackers that identify unique and undiscovered vulnerabilities in DHS’s networks and data systems. These white-hat hackers must submit to a background check to help ensure that these individuals do not pose a threat. In addition, the DHS Secretary must work with the Attorney General to ensure that participants in the bug bounty program do not face prosecutions for their specific work in the program. During a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee markup Thursday morning, Senator Portman explained how the Hack DHS Act will strengthen cyber defenses at DHS. Excerpts can be found below and a video can be found here. “I think it’s important to explain it a bit… What we propose is basically taking the Pentagon model. What it says is that you actually bring in the White Hats, the hackers that are good at what they do, and try to find vulnerabilities in the system.  And it’s worked well at the Pentagon. They call it the Bug Bounty Program and they’ve experimented with large contracts to identify a number one vulnerabilities. Over 200 vulnerabilities reports came in from these white-hat hackers in the first six hours alone. In other words, they were able to discover where the vulnerabilities that could then be closed to keep the people who were not wearing the White Hats, who are trying to access are, in this case Department of Defense, but as Senator Daines just said, the Department of Homeland Security’s job is to keep us safe and so we think that it is absolutely appropriate to take this program over to the Department of Homeland Security. He also said we should focus on IT, that’s what this is, so I’m hopeful that this legislation, which was improved today by the way, and I appreciate that, and I think that we’re all interested in making sure it works effectively and that DHS is ready to address any vulnerabilities immediately. I think the bill is improved thanks to your staff today, in that regard. But let’s make this work at DHS, let’s get this through the floor and then let’s see whether it’s appropriate to extend to other agencies and departments, because this is not going away. We’ve seen in the front pages this morning again the discussion of how vulnerable we are as a country to hackers, some of which are foreign country controlled hackers and it’s important that we move this to DHS. So thank you for your support on that and I appreciate the fact that we now have it moving toward the floor for a vote." Friday, October 6 New Portman Video Highlights the Need for Tax Reform, More Jobs & Better Wages Portman released a video on Friday highlighting the need for Congress to act quickly on tax reform to help create jobs, increase wages, and expand opportunity for all Americans. Portman, who has been a leader in efforts to reform the tax code and protect taxpayer rights, has been vocal in support of reforming the tax code, hosting tax reform roundtables in Columbus and Dayton with local business leaders, in Cleveland with the Greater Cleveland Partnership, and in Cincinnati with the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Portman released the following statement: “Too many Ohio families are facing the middle-class squeeze of flat wages and a higher cost of living. They deserve relief, and a robust economy that enables them to live out their God-given potential. Tax reform is an opportunity to create jobs, boost wages, and increase opportunity for all Ohioans who for too long have been saddled by an outdated and broken tax code that has hurt them and their paychecks. I’m excited about the opportunity before us, and I’m optimistic that Congress can get this done for American workers and families.” Portman Praises ITC Decision to Protect Whirlpool Jobs from Unfair Foreign Trade Portman praised the International Trade Commission (ITC) decision to impose restrictions on imported washing machines that will stop South Korean manufacturers from unfairly flooding the American market. Portman, who has a lengthy record of delivering results for Ohio workers, testified before the ITC in September to protect Whirlpool and its 10,000 Ohio workers, including the more than 3,000 workers at Whirlpool’s largest American factory in Clyde, from unlawfully imported washers into the United States. Portman hosted an employee town hall meeting earlier this year at Whirlpool’s Clyde facility where he discussed his efforts to fight against unfair trade practices. “This decision will help ensure that Whirlpool’s workers in Ohio get a fair shake against unfair imports. Ohio has the most skilled workforce anywhere in the world, and Ohio’s Whirlpool workers make a world-class product efficiently. In Clyde, a washer comes off the assembly line every four seconds, and dozens of state-of-the-art autonomous vehicles are constantly buzzing around the floor. I have seen this firsthand and have met with hundreds of Ohio’s Whirlpool employees; it is easy to see why Whirlpool continues to invest in Clyde and its workers,” said Portman. “However, Ohio manufacturers are too often faced with foreign competitors who cheat on trade.  For years, Whirlpool has been hurt by unfair practices from their overseas competitors, who continue to look for ways to cheat, including by moving their production facilities to China. That is why I am committed to giving these workers a fair shake against unfair trade practices. With a level playing field, these workers can compete and win against anyone, and I will continue to work to ensure that our Ohio manufacturers get the level playing field they deserve.” Portman is the co-author of the ENFORCE Act and the Leveling the Playing Field Act, legislation that is paying dividends for Ohio’s workers, and he has worked closely with Whirlpool and its Ohio employees to combat unfair foreign trading practices. In 2012, Portman sent a letter urging the Commerce Department to defend Whirlpool, which returned all production to the United States in 2008.  He also provided testimony to the ITC.  In response to evidence of foreign companies dumping their washers in the U.S. market, the ITC heeded Portman’s concerns and penalized those foreign companies with anti-dumping tariffs. Following the ruling, however, South Korean manufacturers moved their washer production facilities to China, skirting the order and continuing to dump its products unfairly into the United States. Portman again testified on Whirlpool’s behalf before the ITC, arguing once again that these foreign companies were illegally dumping washers into the United States.  In January of this year, the ITC agreed and ruled that Whirlpool workers had been harmed by the flood of unfairly traded washing machine imports from China. That decision meant additional duties will be applied to washers imported from China into the United States.  This most recent decision by the ITC will impose restrictions on imported washing machines that will prevent South Korean manufacturers from evading duty orders by “country-hopping”, and ensure that they can no longer flood the American market with cheap machines.  On Social Media JSMC finally receiving level of support it needs America’s military might is unmatched. Our men and women in uniform carry out critical operations and defend democracy across the globe. It is one of my greatest privileges as a U.S. senator to represent the many Ohioans who serve our country, either through military service or as an employee of the many Ohio companies that provide support to our military. There is no better example of those assisting our men and women in uniform than the patriotic workers at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center (JSMC), also known as the Lima Tank Plant. I recently had the opportunity to once again tour the JSMC and meet with the skilled employees who make the best armored vehicles in the world. It was part of my five-day defense tour across Ohio, where I visited a dozen military facilities and traveled more than 1,400 miles to see some of the valuable contributions Ohioans make toward our national security. JSMC produces Abrams tanks — the world’s most capable battle tanks, as well as Stryker vehicles — the Army’s most versatile and deployable combat vehicles. After years of effort, the Lima plant is finally receiving the level of support it needs to continue providing world-class armored capabilities to U.S. troops and our allies… (“JSMC finally receiving level of support it needs,” Rob Portman. Lima News. September 30, 2017) Portman lauds Senate passage of bill to fight algal blooms U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, announced that the Senate has passed bipartisan legislation he authored with Senators Bill Nelson, D-Florida, and Gary Peters, D-Michigan, called the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act. Portman worked with Senator Nelson to reauthorize the program in 2014 and negotiated a Great Lakes section that has ensured federal agencies prioritize monitoring and mitigation efforts in fresh water bodies such as Lake Erie… Portman, who was recently named Co-Chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, issued the following statement after the Senate vote: "This legislation takes critical steps toward protecting Lake Erie and other freshwater bodies throughout Ohio and the nation from toxic algae. It is important that these water bodies are protected, as they supply drinking water to millions of Ohioans and are critical for Ohio's tourism and fishing industries. I am pleased that this program has provided a toolkit and forecasts that help our communities prepare for and respond to the impact of HABs (Harmful Algal Blooms). For the first time, our legislation also allows funding to be potentially provided to communities with significant HAB outbreaks to help protect against environmental, economic, and public health risks. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this important legislation to the president for his signature." (“Portman lauds Senate passage of bill to fight algal blooms,” Staff. Freemont News-Messenger. October 4, 2017) American Centrifuge still part of Piketon site discussions While U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry could not say for certain Friday what role facilities like the now-defunct American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon may play in future energy policy, he believes they need to play some role. "What role is America going to play in civil nuclear (production) or, for that matter, what role would our being able to process uranium for our weapons, tritium in particular (play)?" Perry said. "I think it's really important. I'm not here to announce the restarting of a program, please don't take (it that way). What I am concerned about is that the United States of America has historically been the leader in nuclear energy, but over the last few decades, we have lost that position… The American Centrifuge was among the stops on a tour Perry took Friday morning of the Department of Energy site in Piketon. Along with U.S. Sen. Rob Portman and U.S. Reps. Brad Wenstrup and Bill Johnson, his tour also included cleanup work at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and other associated facilities on the property. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown also had been vocal in pushing for Perry to visit the site but was not on the tour Friday… Portman elaborated on the secretary's remarks, noting that the first step is to finish cleanup of the existing American Centrifuge and to do it a bit more quickly for greater cost savings, safety and ability to reindustrialize. "But then we need the new centrifuge technology to be here because this is the place we have the facility, we have the community support, we have the workforce, we have the supply chain," Portman said. "It would be a huge waste of money to re-create what we have here somewhere else. So my pitch to (Perry) was very simple: We have a new technology, America needs to have a source of enriched uranium, and this is the right place to do it."… A domestically-owned source of enriched uranium is required for use in America's nuclear fleet, and the closure of facilities in Piketon and Paducah, Ky., eliminated that domestic source. While there is a stockpile, which the Obama administration estimated could last as long as two decades, Portman noted it can't last forever. "It takes a long time to get the new technology up and going, so let's go now," he said. One of the positives of Perry's visit, both Portman and Wenstrup said, was in the secretary's commitment to provide a more stable budgetary funding stream to the cleanup work at the former Cold War-era enrichment plant that makes up the majority of the DOE property in Piketon. Workers in recent years have had to endure uncertainty in the funding cycle that during one stretch almost annually brought threats of sizable layoffs, in part because much of the program's funding had been at the whim of a barter program that allows stockpiles of uranium to be sold on the open market. (“American Centrifuge still part of Piketon site discussions,” Chris Balusik. Chillicothe Gazette. September 29, 2017)   Ohio Sens. Portman, Brown urge tougher Trump crackdown on N Korea Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown joined 10 other senators Wednesday to urge the Trump administration to formally label North Korea a state sponsor of international terrorism. In a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the six Democrats and six Republicans wrote that since former President George W. Bush in 2008 dropped North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, the Pyongyang regime has continued to develop its nuclear weapons program along with the missiles to deliver a nuclear warhead. “Over the past nine years, the North Korean regime has consistently shown a disregard for international norms and agreements, re-energizing its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them,” the senators wrote… (“Ohio Sens. Portman, Brown urge tougher Trump crackdown on N Korea,” Jack Torry. Columbus Dispatch. October 4, 2017)