The Scoop - March 30, 2015
Posted by Michael Frueh
on Apr 02, 2015
Congressman Jim Jordan gave us an update on what's happening in Washington.
Our speaker today was our representative Jim Jordan, giving us an update on the activities in our nation’s capitol. He discussed the nation's tax code, which he would like to replace with some type of flat tax. Ending corporate welfare is also on his list, as is repealing gun laws in D.C., repealing Obamacare (which he says everybody knows is not working) and closing down the Department of Education.
Perhaps the most important information this Rotarian went back to the office with had to do with redistricting. Ohio’s current district map has been criticized on a national level because of it’s obvious gerrymandering. (12 of the 16 congressional seats were won by the GOP as a result of redistricting, and nationwide republicans won soundly despite having over 1 million more votes cast for democrats.) Mr. Jordan, almost a casualty of redistricting a few years ago, indicated that since Ohio is a swing state, we should expect huge national pressure to keep the current districts intact. (Both the Ohio House and Senate have cleared the way for a November 2015 vote on changing the method of setting districts, but we should expect delays trying to delay the changes until after the 2016 election.)