Rob Portman is a United States Senator from the state of Ohio. He was first elected in 2010, running a campaign that focused on commonsense conservative ideas to help create jobs and get the deficit under control. Rob won with a margin of 57 to 39 percent, winning 82 of Ohio's 88 counties.
Rob was born and raised in Cincinnati, where he still lives today with his wife Jane. Together they have three children- Jed, Will, and Sally. Rob grew up in a small business family, where he learned early on the value of hard work, leadership, and fiscal responsibility.
In 1993, Rob was elected to Congress, where he represented the diverse, seven county Second District in southern Ohio. He was proud to serve the Second District for 12 years, and in seven elections, he never received less than 70 percent of the vote.
Rob was actively involved in crafting and promoting the historic welfare reform efforts as a member of the committee that wrote the legislation, and he was a forceful advocate of the balanced budget that passed in 1997. Rob authored several federal laws to increase retirement savings, reform the IRS and add more than 50 new taxpayer rights, curb unfunded mandates, reduce taxes, and expand land conservation efforts.
In 2005, Rob left Congress when he was asked to serve as the United States Trade Representative, the Cabinet-level official responsible for implementing and enforcing U.S. trade policy. Under his leadership, American exports increased and the U.S. brought successful legal challenges against international trade law violations-including against China.
Following his accomplishments as Trade Representative, Rob was asked to serve in another Cabinet post, this time as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Rob made his mark by proposing a balanced budget, fighting irresponsible earmarks, and putting in place new transparency measures for all federal spending.
During his first term in the U.S. Senate, Rob successfully introduced more than 180 bills, including 150 bipartisan bills, and 50 bills that were signed into law by President Obama. He authored the Senate Republican Jobs Plan, a seven-point agenda for creating jobs in Ohio and around the country through commonsense policies like tax reform, regulatory reform, and skills training. He has been a champion for underprivileged children, an advocate for policies that reduce poverty and increase opportunity, and a leader on expanding exports and American energy production.
Rob is the author of the Federal Permitting Act, federal law that streamlined and sped up the federal permitting process, which modernizes government and creates more jobs.
As co-Chairman of the bipartisan Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus, Rob has authored the CAREER Act, federal law that helps Ohioans train for and find the jobs that are available today.
As a Senator, Rob has also continued to fight for to expand exports and crack down on unfair and illegal imports. He co-authored the bipartisan Leveling the Playing Field Act, which was signed into law by President Obama and gives the federal government better tools to fight unfair imports. He also authored the ENFORCE Act, which President Obama signed into law and helps the federal government crack down on countries like China that try to evade our trade laws. Rob also been a staunch advocate for Ohio jobs in dozens of cases at the International Trade Commission. He has supported cases involving solar products in Toledo, agriculture products like wheat grown throughout the state, specialty paper in Dayton, rebar in Cincinnati and Marion, hot-rolled steel in Cleveland, high-density pipe in Columbus, roller bearings in Canton, and others.
Rob has continued the work he began in the House of Representatives on drug abuse prevention and treatment, authoring the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which was signed into law in July 2016 and authorizes $181 million annually to increase prevention and education, expand drug treatment, and promote community support services for those in recovery. He co-sponsored legislation called the Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act which designed to help stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil from being shipped through our borders to drug traffickers here in the United States.
Rob co-founded and co-chairs the bipartisan Senate Caucus to End Human Trafficking. He is the author of five federal anti-trafficking laws signed by President Obama and has long championed efforts to stop sex trafficking. He also authored the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act that was signed into law by President Trump in 2018. SESTA was the result of a bipartisan investigation into Backpage.com, which culminated in a bipartisan report which exposed that the company knowingly facilitates criminal sex trafficking of vulnerable women and young girls and has covered up evidence of these crimes in order to increase its own profits.
Rob is also a leader in the U.S. Senate in the effort to preserve our environment. He authored several federal laws to protect Lake Erie from harmful algal blooms through scientific research prioritizing bodies of fresh water, and to stop the use of microbeads, which pollute Lake Erie and harm fish and other wildlife.
He is also the author of the National Park Service Centennial Act, which President Obama signed into law in December of 2016. This law ensures that the National Park Service has the resources necessary to reduce its maintenance backlog and continue keeping America beautiful.
Senator Portman is a member of the Finance Committee, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the Committee on Foreign Relations. He is also Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In 2016, he was re-elected, winning by an even larger margin of 58 to 37 and winning 84 out of Ohio's 88 counties.
