Portman, Brown to GM: Invest in Ohio plant; don’t shut it
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman last week sent a letter to General Motors CEO Mary Barra following their meeting with her last week in Port- man’s office.
The two are fighting GM’s decision to shutter the Lordstown plant, which produces Chevrolet Cruze automobiles, next year, and are urging GM to invest in the facility instead of closing its doors.
“For more than 50 years, Lordstown has been an important part of GM’s suc- cess, and just this year J.D. Power ranked the plant number one for the highest qual- ity production among GM’s facilities,” the two wrote. “Given Lordstown’s history and effectiveness, we disagree that this facility should be shuttered simply because the product is uncompetitive. Instead, we believe this makes Lordstown an excellent candidate for a more competitive vehicle and urge GM to invest in this facility.”
The two urged Barra to consider producing the Chevy Blazer in Lordstown instead of Mexico, where it plans to produce the vehicle.
“We believe Lordstown is well-suited to manufacture SUV or cross-over vehicles or next generation cars,” they wrote. They also included a list of questions about GM’s plans for Lordstown, asking Barra to reply by Dec. 21.
Former Boehner aide joins firm
Michael Steel, a one-time top adviser to former House Speaker John Boehner of West Chester Twp., has become a partner at the Washington consulting firm of Hamilton Place Strategies, a firm founded by Tony Fratto, a former deputy White House press secretary under President George W. Bush.
Steel, who also was an adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of Repub- lican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, has been with Hamilton for the past two years. In 2012, he served as a press secretary for Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, who is finishing his final days as speaker of the U.S. House.
CSU gets land grant status
The Farm Bill, as expected, easily swept through the House and Senate last week. Tucked inside the bill was a section backed by Portman, R-Ohio, and Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, that should make it easier for Central State University to gain federal research dollars.
Because Central State was not given land grant status, it was ineligible for seeking federal dollars from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its scientific research.
“Our amendment is a commonsense fix to a historical oversight, and it will ensure that one of Ohio’s great universities gets its fair share of federal education dollars,”said Brown.