Interview: Tired Of Gridlock, GOP Sen. Rob Portman Won't Seek Reelection

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2021

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Republican Rob Portman of Ohio talks with NPR's Susan Davis about his retirement from the Senate, the Republican party after Trump, as well as the former president's impeachment trial.

Portman says he thought President Biden's inaugural address struck the right tone, but the president's legislative strategy on his COVID-19 relief proposal has burned some goodwill with Republicans.

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This episode was produced by Barton Girdwood, Lexie Schapitl, and Chloee Weiner.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.
0:05.1	I'm Scott DeTro.
0:06.1	I cover the White House.
0:07.1	And I'm Susan Davis.
0:08.1	I cover Congress.
0:09.1	And we have another interview today.
0:11.0	Sue, you just sat down and talked to Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.
0:15.0	He is a Republican and he's been in the news lately because he just announced he is not
0:19.4	going to run for re-election.
0:21.4	He did and it was a bit of a surprise.
0:23.3	You know, Portman is from Ohio.
0:24.9	He was heavily favored to win re-election.
0:27.7	He's relatively young in Senate ages, but he said in a statement that he basically had
0:34.3	kind of enough of the partisanship that he was exhausted from the back and forth between
0:37.7	Ohio and DC that it's getting harder and harder for lawmakers like him to get things done.
0:43.9	And he's ready to move on in his career.
0:46.1	And you know, Portman has been involved in politics, Republican politics for, you know,
0:50.2	the better part of the past 30 years.
0:52.0	He was a member of the House under the Bush administration.
0:54.6	He served as both the U.S. trade rep and the head of the OMB, the Office of Management
0:58.6	and Budget.
0:59.6	And he served two terms in the Senate.
	...

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