In Speech to The Ripon Society, Senator Portman Talks about the Keys to Job Creation and the Need to Act Now to Meet the Fiscal Challenges Facing America

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) appeared before a breakfast meeting of The Ripon Society yesterday morning, delivering a speech in which he not only pointed to trade and regulatory relief as being two keys to economic growth and job creation, but said Congress does not have “the luxury of waiting for another election cycle” to address the fiscal crisis it now finds itself in.  

“There’s no question that we ought to move forward with these trade agreements, particularly when you have a bipartisan consensus,” Portman said, referring to the pacts with Korea, Panama, and Colombia that have yet to be approved. “But let me raise a bigger issue. The bigger issue is these agreements were negotiated four to five years ago. Since the Korea agreement was negotiated, the European Union chose to enter into its own agreement with Korea. That agreement became effective while we were allowing our own agreement to languish here in Washington. In July, that agreement resulted in a 36% increase in exports from the EU to the Republic of Korea. During that same period, U.S. exports to Korea increased by less than 3%.

“Why is that significant? Because it is indicative of what’s going on all around the world. While we are sitting back and not engaging with the rest of the world in knocking down barriers to trade, other countries are aggressively pursuing just that, including countries in the European Union. We compete with the EU in a number of different sectors in Korea. One of those areas is autos, just to give you an example. Hondas are made all over the world, including in the United Kingdom and Marysville, Ohio. It’s our largest single automobile manufacturer in the state. And yet because of the reduction in tariffs on autos, Honda is actually exporting more cars from the UK to Korea, taking market share that would otherwise be from Marysville, Ohio, where we export cars to places like Japan.

“This is just a classic example of where the United States, by choosing to withdraw from the process of opening markets and developing commercial relationships, is falling behind. And we’re beginning to see the consequences of it. The United States exports on a per capita GDP basis less than almost any other country in the world. The President talks about the need to create jobs and establishes – at least on a philosophical level – this notion of increasing exports. But at the same time, he not only refuses to move forward on these agreements, but refuses — for the first time since Franklin Delano Roosevelt – to even ask for Trade Promotion Authority. It’s very difficult to see how his words and rhetoric match his actions.”

Portman, who served as United States Trade Representative and Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Bush Administration following 12 years of service in the U.S. House, was elected to the Senate last November. In his remarks yesterday morning to The Ripon Society, he also pointed to regulatory relief as another area that will help create jobs and spur economic growth.

“It is clear that our regulatory system is broken,” the Senator from Ohio stated. “Here again, President Obama’s rhetoric is compelling. But the fact is, there are more major rules – which are identified as having over a $100 million impact on our economy – and more minor rules working their way through the system than at any other time in our history, far more than the Clinton Administration, and far more than the Bush Administration. When you talk to businesses both large and small, they all are complaining about the regulatory environment and how it makes it more difficult to create jobs and opportunity during a time of over 9% unemployment and stagnant economic growth. Like trade, regulatory relief ought to be something we focus on. It’s a classic Ripon issue.”

To that end, Portman noted that he is introducing legislation on Thursday to reform the regulatory process. Cosponsored with Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Congressmen Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Colin Peterson (D-MN), this bipartisan, bicameral bill would, among other things, amend the Administrative Procedure Act for the first time in several decades, provide for judicial review of whether regulations are actually doing what they are intended to do, and require that any cost-benefit analysis that is done on a possible regulation also measure the rule’s impact on jobs. According to Portman, the legislation would also require agencies to use the least burdensome alternative when designing and arriving at a regulatory approach. “The fact is,” Portman stated, “when the EPA comes up with a rule, it’s based on an objective, but it doesn’t have to be the least burdensome way to get there. This bill would require it.”

Portman serves on the Armed Services Committee, the Budget Committee, the Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, and the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee. He was also recently appointed to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. It is an appointment, Portman indicated, that carries with it a clear sense of urgency. “One thing I agreed with in the President’s speech to the Joint Session is that we can’t wait. We can’t wait until the election. Our country is in a fiscal crisis. That does not give us the luxury of waiting for another election cycle or another Congress.”

The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.