Voters gave President Trump high marks last night after watching his State of the Union address.
- 75% approved, including 97% of Republicans and 72% of independents
- 81% felt Trump’s speech was trying to unite the country rather than divide it
- 91% favored what they heard on infrastructure
- 75% favored what they heard on national security
- 72% favored what they heard on immigration
ORP Reaction to President Trump’s State of the Union Address
Please see the statement below from Chairman Jane Timken regarding President Trump’s first State of the Union Address.
“Tonight, President Trump delivered a heartfelt message to the American people – that together we can take the unprecedented successes of the last year and build a safer, stronger and prouder America.”
“The President emphasized economic successes from his first year, such as wage increases for millions of Americans, job creation and a record number of stock market highs. In Ohio, people from all walks of life are feeling the effects, but we need look no further than President Trump’s guest tonight, Corey Adams. Corey is a skilled welder at Staub Manufacturing Solutions in Dayton, Ohio, whose job is more secure today than it was a year ago. As a result, Corey and his wife became first-time homeowners in 2017. Additionally, thanks to tax reform, they will have extra money to save for their daughters’ education. The American Dream is becoming a reality for more Ohioans like Corey, which is something worth celebrating.”
“It was also encouraging to hear President Trump set the agenda moving forward. Much of the President’s vision for future action opens the door to real bipartisan solutions if Sherrod Brown and his Democrat colleagues are willing to abandon their failed strategy of obstruction and put Americans first. Securing our border, tackling the opioid crisis, and rebuilding our depleted military and crumbling infrastructure are not political battles, they are actions we must take together to ensure the safety of all Americans.”
Looking for a place to watch the State of the Union?
Are you planning to watch President Trump’s first State of the Union Address? If so, please see the list of our watch parties below and sign-up if you’d like to watch with fellow Republicans!
President Trump is expected to discuss the record-setting accomplishments of his first year, how Republican policies are lifting all Americans, and how these policies are setting a foundation to build a safe, strong and proud America.
Don’t forget to share your thoughts on social media using #SOTU and #LeadRight! We’ll keep an eye out and share our favorites.
State of the Union watch parties:
Local welder to be first lady’s guest at State of the Union
By: Lynn Hulsey – Staff Writer, Dayton Daily News
Corey Adams, a local welder at Staub Manufacturing Solutions in Harrison Twp., will be a guest of first lady Melania Trump at the State of the Union address Tuesday night.
USA Today Fact check: Democrats are repeating a misleading talking point about tax cuts
By: Lori Robertson, FactCheck.org, Published in USA Today
The Republican tax plan was signed into law just last month, and Democrats already have a well-worn — and misleading — talking point about it: 83% of the tax cuts go to the wealthiest 1%. That’s true for 2027 but only because most of the individual income tax changes expire by then.
In 2025 — the last year before those tax changes expire — only a quarter of the tax cuts go to the top 1%.
ICYMI: Youngstown voters say POTUS first year “better than I ever would have dreamt.”
CNN Focus Group Of Trump Supporters: “Better Than I Ever Would Have Dreamt”
Trump supporters speak with CNN’s Martin Savidge about their thoughts on the President’s progress and performance a year into office. The panel included two white males, a black woman, a white woman and a black male from Youngstown, Ohio. They range from pastor to student to machine worker.
All panelists agreed that immigration was a huge issue to them. Read more here.
Starbucks for Sherrod
Today news broke that Starbucks will boost wages and benefits for their workers thanks to tax reform. This follows similar announcements from companies like Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Disney and Verizon.
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is a major opponent of tax reform and claimed that companies would not use the benefits from a lower corporate tax rate to increase wages and create jobs. Watch here:
Since this spectacle, more than 2.6 million Americans have received pay raises and hundreds of companies have announced expansions, repatriation, and/or more job creation. Clearly Sherrod Brown was wrong, but you won’t hear that from him.
After Starbucks made headlines this morning we knew Sherrod Brown’s staff would be exhausted from spinning this news as anything but a success story, so we brought them coffee:
As companies continue to invest in workers and America, Sherrod Brown will regret his opposition to tax reform, but voters will not forget.
Chairman’s Update 1/21
Dear friend –
On Friday, Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown went back on a month’s worth of talking points, during which he exhaustively cited the need to fully fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for five years. Brown also called for his own defeat after claiming – “those who advocate for shutdowns should be defeated in their races, frankly,” – and then voting for the Schumer Shutdown.
Brown showed Ohioans his true colors. He spent a month scoring political points off of advocating for healthcare for poor children, and then voted to take it away from nearly a quarter million children in Ohio, and nearly 9,000,000 nationwide. This is despicable.
The Democrat claim that this shutdown could fall on the shoulders of Republicans is laughable. First, it takes 60 votes to pass legislation in the Senate and Republicans currently have 51 votes. That means Democrats have to join us to pass a funding bill. Five democrats did. Sherrod Brown spent the week saying shutdowns are “idiotic,” but then fell in line with his party boss, Chuck Schumer.
This flip flop comes just weeks after saying this.
Next, to vote against a bill, you would expect the Senator to disagree with something in the bill. This Republican bill included language to fund our military and to fund CHIP for six years. Unless the Democrats are against funding the military, there was nothing in the bill that they opposed. Sherrod Brown certainly didn’t oppose anything in the bill, especially after tweeting his support for the military.
So why oppose it?
Democrats claim it’s because an approval of DACA was not included. However, there was not a deadline on DACA like there was on CHIP. In fact, DACA doesn’t expire until March 5.
President Trump and Republicans have been vocal about their terms for a deal on DACA. We want to regularize Dreamers, but we must fund increased border security measures, end chain migration and get rid the absurd visa lottery system. We must transform our broken immigration system into a merit-based immigration system.
Dreamers were brought to our country illegally by their families, but through no fault of their own. Most Dreamers are productive members of society who should stay, but some put a strain on society through crime. MS-13 is a terrorist organization, which is fueling our state’s opioid epidemic. Their members should be deported and deterred from coming back through increased border security.
This is a fair deal, but Democrats refuse to take it. They are demanding a clean DACA bill with no changes to our broken immigration system.
The Democrats are essentially holding the government, CHIP and military funding hostage for an unrelated immigration issue. Chuck Schumer once said this would cause, “governmental chaos:”
Ohio voters will not forget that Sherrod Brown put the healthcare of nearly a quarter million Ohio children at risk in an attempt to score political points.
Have a great week,
Jane M. Timken
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Portman Votes to Keep Government Open and Provide Long-Term Funding for Children’s Health Insurance Program
On Friday, Portman voted to keep the government open and provide six years of certainty and stability to the 8.9 American children enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Portman issued the following statement after the vote:
“Tonight I voted to keep the government open and provide long-term funding for the CHIP program. There’s nothing in this short-term funding bill that either party opposes, and no one benefits from a shutdown. We should end government shutdowns for good, and that’s why I have introduced legislation called the End Government Shutdowns Act to avoid these types of unnecessary disruptions that ultimately hurt our economy, hurt families, and hurt our troops. Shutdowns are unnecessary and counter-productive, and I would hope Democrats reconsider their opposition to this non-controversial, short-term funding bill and work with us to keep the government running.”
Congressman Steve Stivers Discusses 2018 Midterms with Dana Perino
Congressman Dave Joyce Signals House in Process of Releasing FISA Abuses Memo
Rep. Dave Joyce, a Republican from Ohio, declared Saturday that the House Intelligence Committee “plans to begin” the release of the memo that allegedly contains revelations about U.S. government surveillance abuses.
His tweet is promising for dozens of conservatives who have rallied in recent days for the four-page memo to be made available to the general public. They suggest it contains evidence that the Obama administration used FISA warrants to spy on both the Trump campaign and transition team — charges Obama officials have long denied.
Ohio Senate Summons Supreme Court Justice to Explain Partisan Campaign Activity
Sherrod Brown Flip Flops on CHIP, Joins Schumer Shutdown
After weeks of calling on Congress to pass long-term funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Sherrod Brown has flip flopped to fall in line with the Schumer Shutdown.
Despite his speech on the Senate floor, radio interview and tweets to the contrary, Sherrod Brown’s decision today will put CHIP at risk:
“Since voting no on last month’s Continuing Resolution, Sherrod Brown has spent his time tweeting and talking about the need for long-term CHIP funding,” ORP Spokesman Blaine Kelly said. “Even today he is using the same rhetoric, yet also said he will not vote for the Republican plan that extends CHIP funding for six years. This is a flip flop beyond belief, and puts the health insurance of nearly a quarter million Ohio children at risk. If Sherrod Brown really wants to fund CHIP he will abandon the Schumer Shutdown and vote yes.”
Brown’s flip flop isn’t only on CHIP, but on government shutdowns altogether. Listen to Brown’s radio interview yesterday, when he called shutdowns “idiotic,” and claimed “people that threaten shutdowns should be defeated in their elections.”
Ohio voters will not forget that Sherrod Brown voted for the Schumer Shutdown in November.