Sen. Rob Portman left the bubble of Washington D.C. on Friday to get a glimpse of the goings on at Ohio University’s Innovation Center during a stop in Athens, during which he pledged his support for “one of the great incubators in the country.”
The Republican from Ohio used the center as a backdrop for his view of domestic economic policy: a smaller government that doesn’t stand in the way of businesses creating jobs.
“This is a great example of where a university in Ohio is actually helping to create jobs through commercializing some of the research that’s being done, but also taking advantage of the fact that you have a lot of smart students who are here who are entrepreneurial,” he said, standing in a second-floor shared office space.
“This gives them a chance to get started with something.”
Portman called for the federal government to help Ohioans by “creating an environment for job creation,” which he said would include some kind of immigration reform that would allow foreign students to continue working in the U.S. after graduating.
He said he is seeking advice from OU officials to make it easier for small companies to “make it through early-stage development.”
Keeping his remarks during his visit mostly tailored to small businesses, Portman said the Affordable Care Act, often considered to be President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement, isn’t doing business owners such as those housed in the Innovation Center, 340 W. State St., any favors.
“If you’re a small business like many of these that don’t yet have enough revenue stream coming in to have enough profit to pay the kind of benefits that they’d like to, they’re being mandated to provide health care coverage,” he said. “And yet the costs are going up and the deductibles are going up. The copays are going up, and that’s a real concern.”
He also talked expansion with Innovation Center personnel, who said they'd appreciate more federal funding.
“In the grant world, it’s very common that folks who are issuing grants will ask for letters of support from elected officials or the university,” said Anna Jensen, associate director of the Innovation Center. “To hear him say, ‘You have my support,’ when it comes time for us to need that … it’s great to know we have his support.”
Innovation Center personnel are eyeing a 10,000-foot expansion that they hope to open in 2016. OU will not break ground until it has fundraised “at least half” of the now-unknown expansion cost, Jensen said.
During his visit, Portman met with OU President Roderick McDavis and journalism professor Thomas Suddes.
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