Portman: Be careful about language
WASHINGTON — One day a fter President Don a ld Trump in Cincinnati called some Democrats “treasonous” for sitting silently during his State of the Union address, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he “would not have used the words.”
Portman, who attended the event, said in a statement he shared “the disappointment that Democrats at the State of the Union Speech did not respond favorably to excellent unem- ployment numbers.”
“Good economic news should be celebrated by everyone, and it is a sign of the partisan division in our country these days,” Port- man said. “But we have to be careful about the language we use so we don’t create even more partisanship.”
By contrast, Rep. Jim Re n acci of Wadsworth, who is seeking the Repub- lican U.S. Senate nomina- tion, declined to criticize Trump. When asked on Fox Business News if he would have preferred the president not use the word treasonous, Renacci replied “Somebody in the audience did say treasonous. I was sitting there and the president used that word because somebody else had mentioned it.”
“As I traveled Ohio since the State of the Union that’s the first thing people say; the Democrats wouldn’t even stand when we were talking about the flag,” Renacci said. “They weren’t standing when we were talking about America That is something Americans are saying back home. So I think the president was just relaying what a lot of peo- ple back home have been saying to me.”
Effort seeks to name building after judge
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, has joined Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to introduce a bill that would rename the fed- ited the White House to discuss trade with President Donald Trump and fellow members of the Senate Finance Committee. Afterward, Portman said the meeting was “productive.”
“I’ve supported a number of the Trump administration’s actions on trade, eral building and courthouse including efforts to hold on West 2nd Street in down- China accountable when town Dayton after United it cheats and violates our States District Court Judge laws,” said Portman, who Walter H. Rice. was a U.S. Trade Ambas
Rice, appointed to the sador under the George U.S. District Court for the W. Bush administration. Southern District of Ohio in But Portman said he also 1980, served as chief judge said that while he supports of the court from 1996 until “modernizing and improv2003. Before joining the feding” NAFTA he believes eral bench, he served Mont- wit h drawing from t he gomery County as an Assisagreement would hurt tant County Prosecutor, a Ohio workers who rely on Municipal Court Judge and export jobs. a Judge of the Court of Com“We need a balanced mon Pleas. approach that opens our
“Judge Rice has dedicated markets for exports, while his entire career to serving also holding our trading justice in Dayton honorably,” partners accountable and Turner said. levels the playing field for U.S. workers and businesses,” Portman said. “That’s the approach I will continue to fight for.”
Portman talks trade with president
Portman last week vis-