Rob Portman, seeking the Republican nomination for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat next year, said “there’s no silver bullet” for the current economic crisis, but a rollback of government spending and what he termed “anti-job policies” would be a start.
Speaking before the City Club of Cleveland on Friday, Portman said one short-term solution to the economic problems is a yearlong suspension of the payroll tax, which he said Democrats want to increase.
The six-term congressman from Cincinnati and former Bush administrative official said suspending the tax could be covered with the $139 billion in remaining bailout funds meant to prop up failing banks. This would provide businesses with money to invest in jobs and innovation, he said, putting money back into the pockets of employers and workers.
