Source: United States Senator for Ohio Sherrod Brown
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) visited communities across Ohio to highlight wins he secured for Ohioans in the soon-to-be-law Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Brown helped write and pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August, has now passed the House of Representatives, and will be signed into law by President Biden on Monday.
During his tour of the state, Brown also visited striking United Steelworkers (USW) in Shelby as they push ArcelorMittal North America to agree to a bargaining agreement that honors the Dignity of Work. The workers at the Shelby facility worked continuously seven days a week throughout the pandemic, with few guaranteed weekends off. Finally, Brown also joined student veterans and leaders from Ashland University on Veteran’s Day to tour the school’s new Military and Veteran Resource Center.
During his first stop: Brown toured the Port of Ashtabula to discuss how the soon-to-become-law bipartisan infrastructure plan will allow Ashtabula County to invest in improving the port, strengthen Ohio’s supply chains, and help address current supply chain delays. County officials believe advancements at the port could help address bottlenecking at ports on the coasts, and help the region attract new investments.
Read what they’re saying about Brown’s stop in Ashtabula:
Ashtabula Star Beacon: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown visits Ashtabula port
- “[Greg] Myers [Executive Director of Ashtabula County Growth Partnership] said the opportunity exists to reinvest in assets that were created 100 years ago, and drive economic opportunity for local and national companies. Myers said the infrastructure bill will allow companies currently in the county to have access to logistics services they may not have today, and it allows the area to compete for new investment. ‘It’s not just utility access, it’s not just access to shipping or rail,” Myers said. “It’s all of these resources combined. That’s why this bill is so exciting, because it creates a pot of money that allows us to invest in all those components.’”
News 5 Cleveland: Ashtabula, Conneaut ports eye infrastructure dollars for expansion
- “‘These were industrial sites, so rather than creating industrial sites somewhere else building them here where we already have the infrastructure is really the key component,” Winchell said. “This is a once in a generational opportunity for us it truly is.’ That’s why the port authority and city leaders were showing Senator Sherrod Brown Wednesday what could be accomplished with his help in carving out a piece of that $17 billion pie. Brown said there will be formulas involved in determining some of what ports get what but he will do what he can to translate what he saw, what this place can do.”
In another stop: Brown joined leaders from McDonald Steel and United Steel Workers Local 1307 for a tour of the more than 100-year-old McDonald Steel facility. During the tour, they discuss what the Buy America provisions he secured in the bipartisan infrastructure plan will mean for the company and for workers.
Read what they’re saying about Brown’s stop in McDonald:
WKBN: Sen. Brown talks Build America, Buy America legislation with Valley steelworkers
- “‘The days are gone where… big and small bridges are made with Chinese steel. The Buy America says if you are using U.S. tax dollars, it’s going to be bought from made-by-America steelworkers,’ Brown said.”
Youngstown Business Journal: U.S. Sen. Brown on Buy America, Infrastructure Bill
- “The Buy America provisions will ensure American taxpayer dollars are used to purchase American-made products for all federally-funded infrastructure projects – closing loopholes and securing major investments in American-made iron, steel, and manufactured products.”
- “‘In the infrastructure bill there’s over $100 billion for bridges and close to $75 million for railways and that’s what we do,’ says Jim Grasso, president of McDonald Steel Corp.”
Warren Tribune Chronicle: Sen. Sherrod Brown brags of ‘Buy America’
- “Bridges and railroads are the bailiwick industries of McDonald Steel Corporation, making up more than half of the company’s market share. ‘That is what we do,’ Jim Grasso, president of McDonald Steel Corporation, said. ‘We do infrastructure primarily for bridges and railroads, so we’re very excited to finally have an infrastructure bill pass out of (Washington) D.C., and hopefully President Biden will sign it quickly.’”
- “At McDonald Steel Corporation, Brown’s Buy America provision is ‘going to mean more work for steel made in America, more work for USW workers here at McDonald Steel, and job creation up and down the supply chain,’ Brown said. Workers at McDonald Steel Corporation make dozens of components across multiple applications. For bridges, the company produces expansion joints and decking while in the railroad industry, it makes parts that are used for tracks and on railroad cars.”
Also during his tour of the state, Brown visited striking United Steelworkers (USW) in Shelby as they push ArcelorMittal North America to agree to a bargaining agreement that honors the Dignity of Work.
Read what they’re saying about Brown’s stop in Shelby:
Mansfield News Journal: Sen. Sherrod Brown visits picket line outside ArcelorMittal in Shelby
- “Dan Robertson, 68, of Shelby, has worked at the plant for 50 years. He wants to work two more years. Robertson rode a bus to Washington, D.C. in 1976 when a company in France called Imetl tried to do a hostile takeover of the steel plant, then known as Copperweld. Brown, who was then a state representative, said 600 people from Copperweld rode the bus all night to D.C. and came back, a 36-hour, no-sleep trip.”
Richland Source: Sen. Brown visits striking ArcelorMittal workers in Shelby
- “Brown joined Brian Sealy, USW Sub-District 3 Director and Dwight Gregory, USW Local 3057 President at the picket line. ‘The company has repeatedly stated at the bargaining table they cannot afford our proposals and have to work within a budget but they have continuously refused to provide any financials to the union,’ Sealy said. ‘This plant made approximately $15 million in net income for the months of July, August and September.’”
Shelby Daily Globe: Sen. Brown issues statement after visit to Shelby strike site
- “The workers at the Shelby facility worked continuously seven days a week throughout the pandemic, with few guaranteed weekends off. On Oct. 31, after ArcelorMittal abruptly ended contract negotiations, roughly 500 USW Local 3057 members went on strike. Brown joined Brian Sealy, USW Sub-District 3 Director and Dwight Gregory, USW Local 3057 President at the picket line. ‘The union is not trying to break the company, we just want a fair contract,’ Dwight Gregory, USW Local 3057 President, said in the news release.”
Finally, Brown joined student veterans and leaders from Ashland University on Veterans Day to tour the school’s new Military and Veteran Resource center. Brown then participated in Veterans Day activities organized by the University’s Veterans Service office, which included a silent watch every 15 minutes to raise awareness of mental health and suicide rates among veterans.
Read what they’re saying about Brown’s stop at Ashland University:
Ashland Source: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown: Other Ohio schools should replicate AU’s effort to support veteran students
- “The senator spent time in the common area talking to veteran students who gathered for the informal event. One of them was Micah Powell, 23, who hails from Pittsburgh but now lives on Ashland University’s campus as a freshman studying journalism. He said he got out of the Navy last year at the start of the pandemic because he wanted to start his next journey: college education…What stood out to Powell about Ashland was the school’s proactiveness with him. ‘They were always looking out for me,’ he said. Powell was also impressed by Ashland’s resource center, a facility unique to the schools he visited during his search.”
- “Brown, who sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said veteran suicide rates in America are too high and the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs need to ‘do better than they have done.’”
Ashland Times-Gazette: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown tours Ashland University’s Military and Veteran Resource Center
- “Brown serves on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and in that role he advocates for the issues veterans face, including supporting veterans’ mental health needs, especially those who are returning to civilian life. In addition to touring the new facility, Brown spoke to multiple student veterans and then took questions from the media.”
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