COLUMBUS – On Tuesday, May 2 the Ohio House of Representatives passed the state operating budget (HB 49). While I found some good causes within the budget, as a conservative representative who promised to promote smaller, smarter government, I could not vote in favor of it.

The budget contained several good elements, which I would have supported, should they have been separate bills. However, there were not enough good measures within the budget in proportion to measures that unnecessarily increased government control and spending.

The budget failed to cut Obamacare Medicaid expansion. Obamacare Medicaid expansion has been extremely expensive for the state. It was projected that only 250,000 people would be enrolled in Medicaid expansion, and now there are over 700,000 enrollees. This is nearly 10 percent of Ohio’s population. Medicaid also provides funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. Around 22,000 children die each year in Ohio because of abortion. Our healthcare funding should not perpetuate the killing of vulnerable, innocent children in the womb.

Finally, I could not approve of the process by which the budget was passed. The budget bill itself is over 4,500 pages. On the evening of Monday, May 1, the budget passed out of the House Finance Committee with several amendments. The 800-page comparison document outlining what had changed in the bill was not published until Tuesday, May 2, the same day the representatives were expected to vote on the budget. Simply put, it was impossible for me to thoroughly vet the budget with the time constraints. I cannot read 5,200 pages in one day and faithfully tell the citizens of my district that I agree with all that is contained. I believe in keeping my campaign promises to voters.

I told voters that I would fight against Medicaid expansion, support the pro-life cause, and limit government. The budget failed to meet my standards, so I could not vote for it.

I have released a video about the budget, which can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/n9ywsr7.

You contact me at (614) 466.1507 or via email at [email protected].