Senator Rob Portman

Ohio’s U.S. Senators weighed in Monday on what they hope to hear in President Obama’s State of the Union address. 

Democrat Sherrod Brown wants the president to focus on jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector.  He says the U.S. lost 5 million manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010, and has only gained back HALF a million.

Both of Ohio’s U.S. senators are now on the oldest and arguably most powerful committee in the Senate – finance. For Ohio Public Radio, WKSU’s M.L. Schultze reports that could bode well for Ohio.

Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman are among the 20 senators who will be taking the closest look at everything from taxes to trade agreements, Medicare, Social Security and the overall economic well-being at the United States.

Ohio’s Republican Sen. Rob Portman says today he could be open to new gun restrictions. The includes a ban on assault weapons that he voted against when he was new to Congress in 1994.

In a conference call with reporters, Portman stood by his vote as a freshman congressman 18 years ago against a ban on assault-style weapons.

“I don’t regret my vote because I made it based on the facts at hand, which was that this would not have an impact on crime and that specifically these tended not to be the weapons that were being used,” says Portman.

Ohio's Republican senator sees tax reforms, not letting taxes go up, as the way to ease the nation's fiscal crunch.

Rob Portman says he thinks higher tax rates now for any group would be a mistake. But he says tax changes could be part of a plan that adds revenue while reducing federal spending.

Portman talked with reporters Thursday as Congress and the Barack Obama administration are trying to avoid a year-end "fiscal cliff" that would see tax cuts expire while spending cuts kick in.

Ohio's Republican senator says President Barack Obama is distorting Republican Mitt Romney's position on the auto industry bailout, a key issue in the pivotal state.

Sen. Rob Portman says President Obama’s comments have been "reckless and irresponsible."  Portman particularly objected to the president’s speech in Dayton , on Tuesday in which he said there might not still be an American auto industry if Romney had been president.