ELIDA — A local legislator paid a visit to Elida schools Monday, listening to issues educators are facing with the state’s current assessment format.
Ohio House of Representatives
Rep. Bob Cupp, R-Lima: Cupp met with several school board members and administrators during his visit to Elida schools Monday, discussing various issues in the state’s educational system.
Topics such as overtesting, report cards, College Credit Plus and funding for public and charter schools were among those discussed during Cupp’s visit.
U.S. House of Representatives
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana: On Friday, Jordan toured the MetoKote Corp. facility in Lima, part of a two-day tour of various manufacturing facilities in Ohio’s 4th Congressional District.
“The 4th District is a district that grows things and makes things,” he said. “Manufacturing is incredibly important to folks here, and I’m proud to fight for the needs of the thousands of manufacturing business owners and their employees through my work in Washington.”
Jordan was recently honored by the National Association of Manufacturing with its Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence. The award was based on Jordan’s pro-manufacturing voting record during this congressional session.
Rep. Robert Latta, R-Bowling Green: On Thursday, Latta will hold a roundtable discussion in Defiance on the impact of the Internet of Things on agriculture. The discussion is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the Ohio State University Extension Defiance County, 06879 Evansport Road, Defiance. Technology experts along with local producers were expected to be on hand.
Latta will stay in Defiance Thursday to hold a discussion on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with state Auditor Dave Yost at 3 p.m. at the Defiance County East Building, 1300 E. Second St. Local food banks and administrators will also attend to discuss how Congress can work to ensure the integrity of the program.
U.S. Senate
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio: Following a July letter from Brown to Drug Enforcement Administration acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg, the DEA has announced it will reduce the quantity of opioid pills permitted to be produced and sold in the United States, beginning next year.
Expectations are that the DEA will reduce the production limit for nearly all Schedule II prescription opioids by 25 percent or more.
“Reducing the amount of prescription opioids on the market makes it less likely that these highly addictive painkillers will fall into the wrong hands, and less likely that individuals will become addicted in the first place,” Brown said. “I commend the DEA for taking action — this is an important step toward preventing addiction.”
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio: Both Portman and Brown joined in a bipartisan letter to President Barack Obama to continue efforts to reduce China’s excess steel capacity through stronger trade enforcement.
“Diplomatic pressure, even if made with our allies, has not been sufficient to change government subsidy policies, state-owned enterprise involvement in the market, and access to free capital that allows unprofitable steel companies to pump excess steel products into the market,” the letter read. “Only if we incorporate strong enforcement measures into our strategy to reduce excess global capacity will U.S. steel companies and steelworkers get the relief they need.”
On Tuesday, Portman and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, released a bipartisan report of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations highlighting issues with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and private insurers in detecting, reporting and addressing opioid abuse, specifically in efforts to avoid opioid-related fraud in Medicare Part D.
According to the report, the CMS lacks clear standards on determining when health insurance companies should report cases of fraud or abuse.
“Private health insurance companies on the front lines of this crisis also must boost their efforts to use every available tool and piece of data to identify and care for beneficiaries in need of help,” Portman said.
