Representative Turner
Major Votes: None
Other Activity
June 6: Rep. Turner and Rep Jenkins’ (R-WV-3) CRIB Act was modified in collaboration with the Senate. It will help cover treatment of NAS (Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome) which involves withdrawal conditions experienced by newborns of addicted mothers. A matching bill has been reintroduced into the House.
Senator Portman
Major Votes: None
Other Activity
June 2 and June 8: The DAYTON DAILY NEWS reported that Senator Portman opposes the steel tariffs on Mexico and Canada. He voiced concern over the harm that will be done to AK Steel which is the last grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) producer in North America (needed for our electric grid). AK Steel has said it will have to shut down production of GOES if there is no tariff modification. The company has about 2,400 full-time employees in Middletown and West Chester Township.
June 5: Senator Portman testified before the ITC urging that agency to protect Ohio workers from South Korea’s unfair dumping or underselling of tapered roller bearings as called for in Senator Brown’s Leveling the Playing Field Act.
June 6-7: On June 6, Portman, as chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), presented a majority report saying the last administration secretly granted a license allowing the conversion of Iranian assets using the U.S. financial system. This was in order to secure a deal with Iran. Portman’s report said that when asked by the government, a couple U.S. banks declined to deal with Iran in this matter. His report calls for recommendations to prevent this access to the financial system in the future. He had many interviews on this subject on these two days and also spoke on the Senate floor. Check website for more details.
June 7: With McCaskill (D-MO), the Senator introduced the Federal Permitting Reform and Jobs Act to improve the federal permitting process for some of the largest infrastructure projects. (Amends the FAST Act)
Senator Brown
Major Votes: None
Other Activity
June 1: Senators Brown and Reed (D-RI) announced that their Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Act of 2017 (STAR Act) has now passed the House (May 22) and the Senators are urging that the bill be signed quickly. The act will “expand the scope of childhood cancer research.” It will also support providing families with ways to prevent and treat childhood cancers.
June 1: “We Make Customer Service in America, Too” is Senator Brown’s new episode of CANARYCAST, his podcast. This one features Communication Workers of America (CWA) members and deals with the outsourcing of call centers. This is Episode 4.
June 2: The Dayton DAILY NEWS reported that the Senator backs the Administration’s raising of steel tariffs on imports. He stated that he is open to “carving out allies who are not part of the problem but steel overcapacity is a global problem that needs a global response.”
June 5: Senator Brown testified before the International Trade Commission (ITC) concerning South Korea’s illegally dumping of steel bearings. This hurts 15,000 workers and 1400 Ohioans working for the Timken Company. His Leveling the Playing Field Act was passed in 2015 and makes it easier for companies to bring and win cases like this one.
June 6: Senator Sherrod Brown voiced alarm at the efforts of the Federal Reserve, SEC, FDIC, OCC, and CFTC to weaken the Volcker Rule. In a floor speech, he said this is another bow to Wall Street and it weakens taxpayer protections from big banks. Get ready for another future big bailout of too-big-to-fail financials, folks.
June 6: Brown’s provisions to improve veteran care were signed into law. The VA Mission Bill includes his provisions supporting expansion of caregiver benefits to veterans of all eras, training doctors outside the VA on how to address the unique needs of veterans, and insuring veterans safe opioid prescribing procedures outside the VA system.
June 6: On the Senate floor, Senator Brown described threats posed by some foreign investments and promoted his bipartisan measures that are included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The measures strengthen the tools the U.S. uses to block national security threats from China and other countries.
June 6: As ranking member of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Brown denounced CFPB Acting Director Mulvaney’s disbanding of the CFPB Advisory Board. Statutorily, the Advisory Board has 25 consumer advocates and experts who inform the CFPB about consumer practices, products, and trends and share consumer analysis and recommendations. Consumers may soon lose protection and again be helpless in fighting financial scams.
June 7: The Senator denounced the administration’s support of the Chinese company ZTE which will put Chinese jobs ahead of American jobs and Chinese interests over our national security. ZTE has been penalized for persistently violating our sanctions against Iran and North Korea and then lying about it many times.
June 7: Following a Brown speech calling for a “comprehensive, co-ordinated, and sustained public health campaign,” the Administration announced a new public service ad campaign to warn young people against the dangers of opioid use.
June 8: Senator Brown announced he would NOT support Chad Readler and Eric Murphy for 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judges. Readler and Murphy have records revealing their work to undermine the rights of Ohioans concerning our right to vote, to quality education, and to marriage equality. Readler worked to strip out of the Ohio Constitution students’ rights to a “thorough and efficient education” and to gut the CFPB. Murphy supports Ohio voter purging as proposed and is against marriage equality.