Displaying items by tag: Sen Rob Portman

A new proposed law hopes to plug a loophole that brings in the powerful drugs fentanyl and carfentanil into the U.S...which have laced heroin in Akron and other cities in Ohio.

Sen. Rob Portman's bill would require foreign shippers to provide electronic data in advance when using the U.S. postal system.

"Information would include who and where it's coming from, who its going to, where it's going, what's in it," Sen. Portman told reporters in a late Tuesday afternoon conference call. "This information I think would make it much less likely that these chemists who are pushing this poison would use the mail system as they do know."

Sen. Portman tells reporters that using the U.S. mail system allows shippers in countries like China and India to get around standards that already exist for private carriers,

He says it would will help U.S. customs agents go after possibly illegal shipments that could end up here.

Portman plans to introduce the proposed legislation this week.

The Comprehensive Addition and Recovery Act - or "CARA" - has had a long journey through Congress that will end soon.

After the House passed a conference committee report by a 407 to 5 vote, the Senate is expected to take a vote Wednesday.

Ohio U.S. Senator Rob Portman sponsored the original Senate bill...and says the new law is needed more than ever.

"Sadly over the past several weeks, we have seen examples in Cleveland, and in Akron and in Dayton and other communities," Sen. Portman told reporters in a conference call Tuesday, "of record levels of overdoses and overdose deaths."

He says there are about 200,000 Ohioans who are addicted, and about 2,000 Ohioans who die every year from overdoses.

Sen. Portman says the bill is better for additions made by the House.

He says he hopes President Obama will quickly sign it when it gets to his desk.

The U.S. House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed the conference report on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act...the same week that well over a dozen people overdosed on heroin in Akron.

CARA is a multi-pronged effort to fight opioid abuse. The latest step was passed 407 to 5 by the House.

Local representative Tim Ryan sponsored CARA in the House....he says the next step is putting more needed money into resources.

"We have to get money behind these programs to make sure that the Attorney General, and the other programs that are involved here for public health have the resources they need that will hit the ground in Summit County and Northeast Ohio," Rep. Ryan tells WAKR.net, "to help stem the tide of this unbelievably heartbreaking epidemic we're dealing with."

Ryan says that much more money is needed than the $181 million written into the bill, even if it does sound like a lottery jackpot.

"In every community, it's facing a dramatic challenge here, and we've got to get more than some problems that are getting thrown around for this," Ryan says, "and I'm not happy about that number at all, I wouldn't brag about that number at all, we've got a lot of work to do."

CARA has one more step on Capitol Hill - the conference report now must be passed by the Senate. Senator Rob Portman has sponsored the effort there.

Sen. Rob Portman has been upset with the House, after repeatedly urging them to pass their version of the Comprehensive Addition and Recovery Act - which passed the Senate easily in March.

Rep. Jim Renacci explains that the House process involves a lot of similar bills linked to heroin and opioid abuse on that side of Congress.

"So there are a number of bills floating around the house, hopefully we can get these moving and passed," Rep. Renacci tells WAKR's Jasen Sokol, "then we'll bring them together in conference with (Senator) Portman's bill, and then hopefully get a bill passed that we can all agree to."

The House version of the bill is sponsored by Rep. Tim Ryan.

The other bills in the House include a bill creating guidelines for health professionals and one that would have grants to reduce opioid abuse.

Renacci says the process is involved.

"When we get a bill out of the House and it goes to the Senate, it sort of takes them time to get to understand the bill and see what's in it," Renacci says. "Same thing happens when a bill comes from the Senate. The House starts looking at it, and of course when you have 435 members, they have different ideas."

Ohio's U.S. senators told an International Trade Commission hearing about the problems Ohio steel workers face from unbalanced international competition.

Sen. Sherrod Brown and Sen. Rob Portman urged a more level playing field so Ohio workers are protected from "unfair" international competition.

Sen. Portman says the "Leveling the Playing Field" act needs help from the federal government.

"It will be even more important that the Commerce Department uses these tools to protect Ohio workers," Sen. Portman told reporters after the hearing, "and be sure that we're not going to allow countries like China that are not following the rules to get away with violating trade law."

He says American steel mills have reduced output by about 12 percent, and foreign steel is coming into the U.S. in record amounts.

He says China says it's cutting back, but the nation's biggest steel maker says it's increasing output by about 20 percent.

In addition to Senators Portman and Brown, Rep. Tim Ryan also testified in front of the trade commission.

He also talked about the oversupply coming out of countries like China, calling it "illegal dumping" that's had a devastating effect on the steel industry in Ohio and across the country.

Senator Rob Portman says the "Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act" - designed to pay for education, treatment and recovery programs to try to stop drug abuse - has a lot of bipartisan support.

But as the bill starts its journey in the Senate, Portman realizes getting even well-supported legislation through Congress is not easy...especially in a busy political year.

"Even though it's legislation that my colleagues seem to support, this is Congress, and it's really hard to get stuff done around here," Portman tells Ohio reporters in a conference call. "So, I am hopeful that we'll have enough momentum to push through the politics of the year, and actually get something done here."

Sen. Portman tells reporters on a conference call that the heroin epidemic is a "real crisis" in Ohio, and believes the legislation will help battle that problem.

He says there is bipartisan support in the House as well.

Monday, the Senate voted 89 to 0 to begin consideration of the bill.