MANSFIELD — Goyal Industries president Jay Goyal is still actively involved in politics — though he hasn’t served in the Ohio Statehouse since 2012.
He was an early supporter of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and said the White House often invites him to presidential visits in Ohio. In September, Goyal attended a South Lawn celebration of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“It was a nice event — there was a lot of energy around it,” Goyal said. “You had a significant number of people from Congress who were in attendance.”
Speakers at the celebration included President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Singer-songwriter James Taylor kicked off the celebration with a performance of “Fire and Rain.” Goyal noted listening to Taylor’s performance was one of his favorite parts of the event.
Goyal visited the White House in 2009 to attend a State Dinner with India’s prime minister hosted by the Obama administration.
“They were obviously very different events. One was a very formal state dinner and the other was a bill celebration signing,” Goyal said.
He had never been on the South Lawn, and though the weather was 80 degrees and humid, Goyal said he enjoyed the event and was able to meet friends working in the Biden administration.
“It was kind of the first public event that they had done at the White House because of COVID restrictions,” he said.
Goyal received an invitation to the Sept. 13 celebration in late August and had to go through a background check before his visit.
The celebration was confined to the South Lawn, but Goyal met his cousins living in Washington, D.C. and spent time at the National Mall before coming back to Mansfield.
As a representative in the Ohio Statehouse from 2007 to 2013, Goyal dedicated much of his time to economic development bills for the state. Of the healthcare, energy and climate sectors of the Inflation Reduction Act, he said he is happiest to see climate change addressed.
“I think climate change is a significant concern,” he said. “I think taking measures to try to address it is really important, so I was very appreciative of that component of it.”
Biden discussed lowering healthcare and prescription drug costs during his speech on the South Lawn. He said “Big Pharma” has been fighting bills to lower healthcare costs since he was a senator.
“With this law, the American people won and special interest lost,” Biden said.
Goyal remembers hearing about rising healthcare costs while he was a state representative, but not being able to address costs at a nationally effective level.
“There’s only so much you can do at the state level when it comes to healthcare,” he said. “So many of the dollars for Medicaid and Medicare are federally controlled.
“Anything that we can be doing to try to reduce healthcare costs without compromising our quality is good for everyone.”
Coming back to Mansfield, Goyal said what he remembered most from the event was the feeling of being invited in the first place.
“It’s always an honor to be able to go to the White House, and it was an honor to be there and be part of the event,” he said. “That was probably the thought that stuck with me the most afterward.”
