Senate GOP budget would cut food, housing, healthcare programs for the poor: Capitol Letter

Jun 02, 2023

Ohio Senate Republicans unveiled their new state budget plan this week. (John Pana, cleveland.com)

Scissors to the safety net: Ohio Senate Republicans’ budget proposal released Tuesday would slash several programs designed to feed, house, and cover health care costs of some of the state's poorest citizens, Jake Zuckerman reports. The changes come via budget cuts to food banks, work requirements for SNAP and Medicaid, nixing a proposal to offer free lunches to poor children at school and more.

Working it out? New Ohio Senate GOP legislation seeks to save Ohio's unemployment benefits program from insolvency by cutting benefits by nearly 40%, including reducing the number of weeks people can get benefits and stopping additional payments to jobless Ohioans who have dependents. As Jeremy Pelzer explains, it's the latest development in a years-long fight over whether to shore up the unemployment system's finances by cutting benefits, making employers pay more, or some combination of both.

Don't bank on it: The Ohio Credit Union League and The Ohio Bankers League, which represent nearly 400 banks and credit unions, issued a statement that said they strongly oppose the Credit Card Competition Act cosponsored by U.S. Sen. JD Vance, a Cincinnati Republican. While Vance says the bill will help small businesses and reduce consumer costs by reducing the high swipe fees charged by Visa and Mastercard, the Ohio bank groups say the alternative credit card payment processors whose development it would encourage "could restrict credit access and put consumers at increased risk for fraud and data breaches."

Buyer beware: Vance took to Twitter on Thursday to push back against suspected digitally-altered images of ex-President Donald Trump hugging Anthony Fauci that appear in a video the "DeSantis War Room" account posted on Twitter earlier this week, Politico reports. The video criticizes Trump for not firing Fauci as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases when he was president. "Smearing Donald Trump with fake AI images is completely unacceptable," Vance tweeted. "I’m not sharing them, but we’re in a new era. Be even more skeptical of what you see on the internet."

Economic development: Vance joined a bipartisan group of Senators in introducing a bill called the ONSHORE Act, which aims to return supply chains to the United States by creating a grant program within the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration that would help communities with site development to attract manufacturers. "If enacted, it will deliver good-paying jobs, build vibrant communities, and strengthen supply chains—in Ohio and around the country," said a statement from Vance.

Politics at work: U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican, on Thursday sent Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Kahn a letter that accuses her agency of taking politically motivated actions against Elon Musk and Twitter. Jordan, who chairs a "government weaponization" subcommittee, said in the letter that the FTC and Twitter had reached a tentative agreement to resolve a self-reported privacy issue before she took office, and decided to take action against the company after Musk's acquisition was announced. "Your pending nomination and confirmation as a Commissioner should not have affected the day-to-day operations of the FTC or the implementation of an agreed-upon settlement," his letter said.

Aluminum foiled: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Thursday joined a joined a bipartisan group of colleagues in a letter asking Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to revise tariff exclusion rules previously approved for aluminum extrusion products. It says that because of the exclusions, imports of extruded aluminum rose 82 percent, costing U.S. producers millions of tons of possible sales since 2019. Foreign market penetration now exceeds 25 percent, the highest level in over a decade. "Extruder plants could be shuttered if these trends continue, which would hurt American workers and undermine America's defense industrial base," the letter says.

Medical reserves: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced it awarded Ohio $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds to strengthen its Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) network – focusing on emergency preparedness, response, and health equity needs. The Ohio Department of Health will use the money to strengthen the state MRC program by developing a pipeline of volunteers and specialist occupations, investing in data modernization for the state's volunteer management registry, and bolstering partner and volunteer engagement by enhancing skills training.

Gerrymandering ruling: Voting-rights groups hailed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that upheld parts of the Voting Rights Act pertaining to racial gerrymandering. The ruling, made in response to a challenge from state officials in Alabama, could force several southern states to draw additional Democratic-leaning, majority-minority congressional districts, according to legal analysts. But the ruling will have no bearing on the ongoing gerrymandering case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving Ohio's congressional districts, according to Freda Levenson, a top lawyer with the ACLU of Ohio, which is involved in the case. The Alabama case had to do with interpretation of federal law, while Ohio's case has to do with state courts’ ability to enforce state law when it comes to congressional redistricting, Levenson said. The Alabama ruling, though, could pave the way for someone to make a racial gerrymandering claim in the future in Ohio.

School vouchers: The budget proposal introduced this week in the Ohio Senate includes new changes to education policy in Ohio, including an expansion of private school vouchers. Susan Tebben of the Ohio Capital Journal reports on the reaction among public school advocates.

Question: Which "legendary" Ohio State quarterback turned FBI agent led the Buckeyes to a Rose Bowl win over USC, but suffered a knee injury in the 4th quarter that ended his pro ambitions?"

Email your response to [email protected]. The first correct respondent will be mentioned in next week's newsletter.

Thanks to everyone who answered last week's question:

This Ohio county was named after a mansion once owned by Henry Clay, the famous 19th-century Kentucky politician.

Last week's answer: The city now called Ashland, Ohio, originally was named Uniontown when it was founded in 1815. Residents chose the new name in honor of Clay – sources differ on when and why – who was a prominent politician in the Whig Party at the time. The county officially was called Ashland County when it was founded in 1846.

Michael Farley, a Worthington resident and vice-president of government affairs/general counsel for the Ohio Insurance Institute, was the first to provide the correct answer.

U.S. Representative Emilia Strong Sykes, an Akron Democrat, announced Thursday that she's been confirmed as member of the House Aerospace Caucus.

Robert W. Horner III has been named the Ohio Supreme Court's new administrative director. Horner previously served as senior vice president of corporate legal affairs and secretary for Nationwide Insurance until his retirement, after which he served as executive director and chairman of the board for Honor Flight Columbus, a nonprofit that helps veterans travel to see war memorials in Washington, D.C.

Friday, 6/9: Ex-state Sen. Bill Coley; Jordan Plottner, chief of staff, Ohio House Democratic caucus

Saturday, 6/10: Dakota Bigood, legislative aide to state Rep. Phil Robinson; Dan Foley, 2018 Ohio House candidate

Sunday, 6/11: Malika Bartlett, consumer services director for the Franklin County Auditor's Office

"There is no better place in the country than Ohio for the Space Command Headquarters and additional Space Force units. Our state is ready to lead our military into the next frontier."

Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, during a Thursday floor speech on the U.S. Senate on Thursday. Brown was part of a bipartisan congressional delegation who signed a letter earlier this week pushing for military leaders to pick Ohio, although NBC News has reported that the Biden administration is strongly favoring Colorado.

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