Portman receives Panetta award

Sen. Rob Portman, ROhio, has received the Panetta Institute for Public Policy’s Jefferson-Lincoln Award.

Portman, along with Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, are being honored for their years of public service, “but also for their spirit of bipartisanship in representing the American people and their constituents,” according to a news release.

The award ceremony will take place Nov. 11 in Pebble Beach, California.

Portman spent 12 years in the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2012. He called the award a “tremendous honor.”

“As a public servant, and a voice for the more than 11 million Ohioans, each with unique issues and concerns, I have always worked to put their needs ahead of party politics,” Portman said in a statement. “In my time in the House of Representatives and the Senate, I have made a point of reaching across the aisle and working with anyone who shares my goals of enacting policies that make a real difference in the lives of Ohioans. I am grateful to be selected for this award, and I will continue working in a bipartisan manner to deliver results and get meaningful legislation passed.”

The Panetta Institute of Public Policy was founded in 1997 by Leon and Sylvia Panetta. Leon Panetta has previously served as the U.S. secretary of defense, director of the CIA, White House chief of staff and as a Democratic U.S. representative from California.

“In presenting these awards annually, we pay tribute to those leaders who are committed to the principles that have historically made our country an inspirational example of the democratic process at its best,” Leon Panetta said in a statement.

This is the 18th year for the Jefferson-Lincoln Awards.

Portman