Portman Discusses Need for Pro-Growth Policies on CNBC's Squawk Box

Press Release

This morning, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a member of the Senate Finance and Budget Committees, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box to discuss the need for pro-growth policies ahead of the release of the President's budget proposal next week.

Excerpts are below and video of Portman's interview can be found here.

"We're going to roll out in the Senate, a jobs plan soon that's going to have seven elements to it, including things like pro-growth tax reform, regulatory relief, getting the trade agenda going again so we can expand exports, dealing with energy so we can open up more public lands and get this energy revolution moving even faster to create more jobs. There are some great opportunities out there on growth, and that's what we have to be for as Republicans. We do have the ideas and we are a party of ideas and reform."

"In terms of what's going to happen on the budget coming next week, you've got a president who in the face of the Congressional Budget Office saying things are getting worse not better in terms of the debt and deficit, is saying, "I'm going to back off on doing anything about it.' This is discouraging."

"I do think there's a possibility of doing some things. I've got…an energy efficiency bill that we hope to get to the floor. Jeanne Shaheen and I have that bill, and it would help in terms of this all of the above energy strategy we're talking about: produce more energy here at home, use our domestic resources, but also use less of it and use it more efficiently. I also think we can move forward on some regulatory relief ideas. There is a lot of bipartisan buy in to the fact that we have to do better on permitting. We've got to do better on cost-benefit analysis. There's some things we can do, even in an election year."

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