SAINT LOUISVILLE, Ohio – Former Congressman and current President of Ohio’s Future Foundation, Jim Renacci, joined nearly 200 attendees at the Ohio Liberty Coalition’s Statewide Meeting on Saturday to share his pro-growth vision for Ohio.
“I was in Congress eight years. I’m back in the state because I think working on policy here is the answer,” said Renacci. “The federal system is broken. Thank God President Trump is there.”
The national debt is quickly approaching $23 trillion and heading to $30 trillion. While in Congress, Renacci told the audience, former President Obama’s Comptroller said the United States has 20 years before the Fed seizes up and can no longer funnel money to the states.
“And Ohio has issues we need to fix,” Renacci said. He identified several, including the consistent loss of population. Ohio is 6th in the nation for number of residents leaving the state. That has caused a loss of representation in Congress. And Renacci believes it is all connected to the policies of Ohio’s leaders – on both sides of the aisle.
“Career politicians have enacted policies in our state over the last 30 years that have large manufacturing running to our neighbors, like Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia and Tennessee. These are great paying jobs and no one wants to talk about making real changes for the business owners and taxpayers of Ohio,” Renacci told The Ohio Star.
He pointed to Procter & Gamble building their new mega factory in West Virginia as a key example of Ohio’s poor policy decisions. Renacci ticked off four reasons for the home products giant choosing to move outside of Ohio, and they were:
- Ohio has a terrible tax climate. Ohio is in the bottom ten states, ranked 42nd, for “State Business Tax Climate” by The Tax Foundation because, Renacci said, “There are four ways to tax business and we use all four.”
- Ohio is in the top five for states with the most regulations.
- Ohio’s energy policy is problematic. “We need an ‘all of the above’ energy plan,” said Renacci. He noted the possible loss of nuclear energy because House Bill 6 has not passed.
- Ohio is not a Right-to-Work state.
Renacci also discussed the damage done to Ohio by Medicaid expansion. He cited statistics showing 1 in 4 Ohioans are now using Medicaid. Under Governor Strickland, medicaid was 17% of the budget; now it is 44% and growing.
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Beth Lear is a reporter at The Ohio Star. Follow Beth on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
