Rob Portman, November 11, 2002

Political campaigns are an opportunity for candidates and political parties to speak out about where they stand on the issues and debate their differences. But now that the votes are counted, it is time for the newly elected officials to work together to get things done. This is the case in Congress, where the House and Senate should put aside partisanship and move forward on several important initiatives.

Most issues will be debated when the new Congress is sworn-in next January. But some agenda items are too important to leave until then, and I believe Congress should take them up as part of a special "lame duck" session later this month. First should be making us all safer from the terrorist threat by creating a new Department of Homeland Security.

Recent reports indicate that several terrorist groups held a summit in South America to plot further attacks against the United States and our allies. And we’ve seen recent terrorist attacks in Bali, Kuwait and Yemen. This is a frightening reminder that our nation is still very much at risk. One of the best things we can do to protect ourselves is to create a streamlined and effective Department of Homeland Security that will better coordinate our government’s now disjointed efforts to defeat the terrorists and keep us safe. Unfortunately, some Senators have not wanted to give the President the flexibility he needs to make this new Department work, and legislation creating the Department has been stalled in the Senate for several months. Now that the election is over, Congress should heed President Bush’s call and complete work on this legislation during the special session this month.

Another issue I hope will become a top priority for Congress is pension security. Workers at Enron and other bankrupt corporations learned the hard way that an employee’s retirement nest egg is not always secure. That is why I authored legislation that would help give workers more control over their pension investments and ensure that they aren’t forced to over-invest in the stock of their own company. The House passed a pension security bill that contained these provisions last April, but the bill was never brought before the Senate for a vote. I am optimistic that the new Leadership in the Senate will make this legislation a priority.

In addition to these priorities, I look forward to Congress finally taking action to make last year’s tax relief permanent. The President’s tax relief package cut taxes across-the-board for every taxpayer, repealed the death tax and granted relief from the marriage tax penalty. It also contained retirement savings provisions that I authored that would simplify pension laws and allow workers to save more for their retirement. But due to an arcane rule in the Senate, the

provisions of this tax relief package only last ten years, and are set to expire in 2011. In the coming year, I will work with leaders in the House and Senate to make sure this tax relief will exist both now, and into the future.

Congress also needs to take the appropriate steps to improve our nation’s health care system. One of the first things we can do is enact a meaningful Patients’ Bill of Rights, similar to a version we passed in the House more than a year ago. This legislation would restore the patient-physician relationship and provide everyone with strong patient protections. Among those protections are: access to emergency room care; direct access to ob-gyn’s and pediatricians; access to approved clinical trials; and access to information so that patients can choose the health care plan that best suits their needs. In addition, the bill contains provisions that would help make health care more affordable so that more Americans can get the health coverage they need.

But no improvements to our health care system can be complete unless we tackle the problem of skyrocketing prescription drug costs. Earlier this year, the House passed legislation creating a new voluntary Medicare prescription drug benefit. The bill provides comprehensive coverage to all low income seniors, and for others has a low annual deductible and monthly premium, immediate savings through a discount card program, and catastrophic coverage of out-of-pockets costs that exceed $3,700 a year. While this bill was not voted on by the Senate this past year, this is another issue the new Congress must address.

The recent election was an opportunity for voters to hear the differences between the candidates, but now that the elections are over, it’s time to go to work. In the next two years I look forward to getting results for Southern Ohio and for all hardworking Americans.

Congressman Rob Portman represents the Second Congressional District of Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives.