I think Senator Rob Portman is an honorable man. However, he has lost sight of who he works for. Perhaps he has become a creature of the swamp his party’s leader so loudly decries. Our junior senator has thrown in his lot with the rich and special interests at the expense of the rest of us.
First, the tax bill that he helped shepherd through reconciliation repeals the ACA’s individual mandate. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, healthier Americans (i.e., Ohioans) are more likely to drop their insurance, leaving insurers stuck with more people who are older and ailing. This is expected to drive average insurance premiums on the individual market up by about 10 percent. With 13 million fewer citizens projected to have health coverage, perhaps our senator chose to ignore the message Congress was sent earlier this year about Americans’ concerns on health care.
Next, to stay under the $1.5 trillion limit for new deficits, lawmakers opted to make the tax cuts for individuals and families temporary, even as the corporate tax cuts are permanent. Is this what we elected Sen. Portman to do: take from the electorate and give to moneyed interests?
Finally, the 2010 law requiring that legislation adding to the federal deficit be paid for by spending cuts, increases in revenue or other offsets seems to have special concern for the most vulnerable Ohioans. The biggest program to be affected is Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. Dozens of other programs are likely to be cut as well, but Medicare, which would face a 4 percent cut, is by far the biggest.
I think Senator Rob Portman is an honorable man, but with the tax law he helped write he has done a dishonorable thing.
William O’Connell, Ada
