Sherrod Brown in Mansfield: ‘I do my own job. The White House does what it does’

MANSFIELD — Democrat Sherrod Brown, seeking re-election in November to a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, isn’t counting on President Joe Biden to help him much in Ohio.

The Mansfield native is battling Bernie Moreno, a candidate strongly endorsed by former President Donald Trump in a state the GOP presidential candidate won in 2016 and 2020 and has a double-digit lead in most 2024 polls.

However, similar polls showing Brown leading Moreno between 4 and 6 points in their head-to-head matchup.

Brown was in his hometown Wednesday morning at VFW Post 3494 on Ashland Road to discuss veterans issues during a roundtable event. The 71-year-old U.S. Senator was asked afterward how Biden administration policies and decisions may impact his re-election chances.

“I do my own job. The White House does what it does,” Brown said, adding he recently “pushed” the administration to help protect workers from being classified as management and being forced to work unpaid overtime.

“The administration, because of our push, did the right thing. Somebody making $40,000 a year, a company classifies them as management, makes them work 50 or 60 hours a week and doesn’t pay overtime.

“That’s outrageous. We needed to fix that and that’s what we’re doing,” Brown said.

(Below is a photo gallery with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, who returned home to Mansfield on Wednesday morning for a roundtable discussion on veterans issues at VFW Post 3494. The story continues below the gallery.)

Brown said he voted Tuesday night in support of a $95 billion package that will provide military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, replenish U.S. weapons systems and give humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.

The bill, approved 79-18 by the Senate, passed through the House on April 20. Biden signed it into law on Wednesday morning.

“I voted for it proudly. It was the right thing to do. (For) the United States, it’s a national security issue,” Brown said.

“If Russia were to overrun Ukraine, they would be right up against NATO. And our commitment to NATO is to send troops if something happens (to a member country). The last thing we want is a land war in Europe with American troops there.

“Most of these dollars spent are spent on U.S. military production. Lima, just right across (U.S.) Route 30, that will be more good paid union jobs at the tank plant there.

“In my mind, we need the humanitarian aid in Gaza. We need to support our allies like Ukraine. It was bipartisan. It was the right thing to do,” Brown said.

Protests against U.S support of Israel in its battle against Hamas in Gaza have sprung up at various sites around the country, especially on college campuses such as Columbia, Yale and New York University.

“I am worried about anti-Semitism in this country. I understand people protesting. I understand people are pretty distraught about the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. I think Israel has to do a better job protecting civilians,” Brown said.

“I know that we’ve pushed back hard on (Israeli President Benjamin) Netanyahu that we need to get those medical supplies from around the world, from governments and from volunteer organizations … that we want to get military (aid) and (we) want to get humanitarian help from to Gaza,” he said.

“That’s essential. And we need to protect those workers that are taking the humanitarian supplies in,” Brown said.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to overturn Roe vs. Wade and send abortion law decisions to individual states may benefit Brown’s chances in November.

In November 2023, 57 percent of Ohioans voted to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution.

“My view has always been that women and their families and their doctors should make their own decisions about women’s health. I don’t want a bunch of politicians in Columbus making those decisions,” Brown said.

“Frankly, I don’t want the U.S. Congress to do a national abortion ban. I want what we now have in Ohio, we passed with 57 percent. A lot of voters in Richland and Crawford and Huron and in Morrow and Knox and Ashland counties voted for that.

“It’s clear to me that women should make these decisions, not a bunch of politicians,” Brown said.

Brown leads discussion of 2022 PACT Act, veterans benefits

Brown was part of a 47-minute roundtable that included thoughts on a variety of topics important to military veterans.

He led off with a discussion of the law passed in 2022 to improve healthcare access and funding for veterans exposed to toxic substances during their time in the service.

The bill, dubbed the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, allocated $797 billion for veterans.

Brown, the longest-serving Ohioan on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said it was approved after Robinson, an Ohio native, died of a rare form of cancer after being exposed to toxic burn pits in both Iraq and Kosovo.

A decade after completing a deployment as a combat medic with the Ohio Army National Guard, Robinson developed a rare autoimmune mucous membrane disease and Stage 4 adenocarcinoma lung cancer.

His doctors insisted both diseases were the result of prolonged exposure to toxic substances.

“The Defense Department lied to the American people and to veterans,” Brown said Wednesday.

“The chemical companies lied about the exposure, what it meant. And far too many veterans coming back from Vietnam and other places had to fight their own VA to get the care that they earned and deserved.”

He said he served as the “wing man” to Veterans Affairs Committee chair Jon Tester (D-Montana) in writing the bill that listed 23 illnesses possible from exposure to the burn pits.

“I’m not a doctor, I’m not a lawyer, I just do what I do. But doctors told us that exposure could result in any one of these 23 illnesses. So we actually wrote that into the law.

“If you go to the VA in Mansfield, if you go to Cleveland or Akron or the big (VA) hospital in Chillicothe with any of these 23 illnesses, you automatically get care,” Brown said.

The senator said more than 10,000 Ohioans have received care under the PACT Act.

“That’s serving veterans the way it should be,” Brown said, asking those present to help spread the word among the veterans’ community that help is available for those impacted by exposure to the burn pits.

Among those participating in the round table Wednesday were four representatives from the Ohio Air National Guard’s 179th Cyberspace Wing based in Mansfield — SMSgt. Haley Young, the unit’s military and family readiness manager; MSgt. Efrem Swoope, retention officer manager; CMsgt. Kari Nettle, support squadron; and Lt. Col. Brandy Piacentino of the medical group.

Also participating were Kendra Boggs, military community advocate at The Ohio State University-Mansfield; Cindy Wood, director of development and community relations at OSU-Mansfield; and Daniel Laboy, a U.S. Navy veteran and a student at OSU-Mansfield.

From the veterans community, roundtable participants included Larry Moore, a U.S. Navy vet and past commander of VFW Post 3494; Bill Myers, commander of VFW Post 9943; Norm Shoemaker, U.S. Army veteran and president of the Mid-Ohio Area Labor Council; and Gary Utt, U.S. Army veteran and a member of the Richland County Veterans Service Commission.