As President Biden Comes To Cleveland, Not a Single Ohio Republican Wants to Support His Popular Agenda
May 27, 2021
Columbus, OH — As President Biden visits Cleveland today to talk about his investments in working families, it’s the latest reminder that Ohio Republicans are increasingly isolated in their opposition to his popular plans to build back better from the pandemic.
President Biden comes to Ohio today enjoying high marks for both his presidency as a whole and the American Rescue, American Jobs, and American Families Plans that have defined his early domestic agenda. Poll after poll has suggested that a remarkably steady majority of Americans approve of the Biden presidency. Nationally, sizable majorities have shown support for the Rescue Plan, Jobs Plan, and Families Plan, when asked about them together or separately.
It’s no surprise that the Biden agenda is popular nationwide. After all:
- The American Rescue Plan, passed in March, is putting shots in arms, delivering checks of up to $1,400 to nearly nine out of every ten adults in the state, and lifting 132,000 Ohio kids out of poverty through the expanded Child Tax Credit.
- The American Jobs Plan would help fix over 1,375 bridges in Ohio in need of repair, spend over $200 billion on housing to help the more than 680,000 Ohioans who are spending more than a third of their income on rent, and rebuild and modernize Ohio manufacturing.
- The American Families Plan would provide affordable child care for more than 253,000 Ohio children under 5 and their parents, make the child tax credit permanent, and reverse Ohio’s disastrous 30 percent decline in new teacher supply.
Despite all of this, however, not a single Ohio Republican in Congress seems interested in either good policy or good politics, and continues to oppose the Biden agenda. Not a single Ohio Republican voted for the American Rescue Plan this spring, and every republican on record has said they would not vote for the American Jobs or Families Plans. Senator Rob Portman said he would not vote for the bill and even tried to compare it unfavorably to the 2017 GOP tax giveaway, which has been panned by non-partisan analysts.
Ohio Republican candidates have also been outspoken in their opposition to the American Rescue Plan, which enjoys wide, bipartisan support across the state. Jane Timken publicly stated she would have voted against the measure and has said about the bill, “we have to stand up and fight against this,” while Josh Mandel attacked provisions in the bill that would protect pensions for thousands of Ohio retirees and workers.
“Ohio voters support the historic investments in our economy President Biden is advocating for today because they know that’s the road to a strong, sustainable future,” said Matt Keyes, spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party. “Yet Ohio Republicans are putting partisanship over people and digging in their heels against what Ohioans want. With the President in Cleveland today, it’s time for us all to join together and make these smart, popular bills a reality.”