WASHINGTON — An Ohio lawmaker helped release a report on a website contributing to online sex trafficking.
U.S. Senate
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio: Portman, the ranking Republican on the senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, helped release a report on the subcommittee’s findings in relation to Backpage.com, revealing that the website has revenues of more than $150 million annually in commercial sex advertising, helping to facilitate both prostitution and child sex trafficking.
“What has happened to these kids is not just tragic; it’s evil,” Portman said in an address to the Senate. “I urge my colleagues to join me in reforming our laws so that they work better to protect these children.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio: On Wednesday, Brown highlighted a report from Harvard Medical School and New York University maintaining that repealing the Affordable Care Act would have a detrimental impact on people struggling with addictions.
“Just to be clear, in the last month of 2016, Congress voted to give $1.1 billion to states over the next two years to treat this epidemic, and in just the second week of 2017, they are voting to take $5.5 billion away over just one year,” Brown said. “That’s taking one step forward and five steps back.”
U.S. House of Representatives
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana: Jordan helped pass a budget resolution Friday which is being described as the first step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act through reconciliation.
“This is step one in the process to repeal Obamacare, a law that has driven up prices and hurt care,” Jordan said. “There are several steps to come but the goal is very clear: repeal it all — every regulation, every tax, every mandate — and do it this Congress. All the talk of a three- to four-year phaseout is not what we told the voters we would do. I will work to repeal it all as fast as we can.”
Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, also voted in favor of the resolution, calling it an “important and necessary first step” in improving America’s health care system.
“It’s long past due that we repeal this massive law and put decision-making back in the hands of patients and their doctors,” he said.
Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green: On Wednesday, Latta reintroduced legislation to eliminate the federal estate tax, also known as the death tax.
“For too many small businesses and farmers, the death tax is a barrier that makes it difficult to pass on the fruits of their labor to future generations,” Latta said. “Not only that, there are real economic consequences as families are forced to take out costly insurance policies, sell off equipment or land, and reduce the size of their business or farm to ensure that they won’t be harmed by the estate tax in the future. In addition to the economic benefits for Ohio and the nation, repealing this unpopular tax is the right thing to do to stay consistent with our American values of entrepreneurship and hard work.”
