Since his swearing-in on Jan. 3, Bernie Moreno has been busy in Washington settling into the role of Senator, even if not entirely into the name.
"You know I always tell people unless you're in the United States Capitol, it's Bernie," he said. "Because it's hard for me to respond when somebody calls me 'Senator' because it's not how I think of myself. I think of myself as an employee for the people of Ohio."
He developed a relationship with new Senate Majority Leader John Thune during his campaign that seemingly paid off when it came to committee assignments.
"I got exactly what I wanted," Moreno said. "[Senator Thune] asked me to lay out the four committee assignments I wanted. First, second, third and fourth choice and then others and he gave me my top four choices and those committees are the ones that impact Ohio the most. Banking, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security & Government Affairs, Budget and Commerce, Science and Transportation. That's Ohio so it's just fantastic for me to be on those committees."
When asked what he was seeking to tackle first, there was no hesitation, "autos," he said. "In fact, the first bill we're going to introduce as a solo bill will be something I'm calling the Automotive Manufacturing Renaissance which is how do we get American Automotive Manufacturing to happen at scale again here in America. Again I'll give you a number that you'll remember. There's about 4 million cars that sold in America but are made in Mexico and Canada. That shouldn't be the case; those cars should be made here.
"I met with the President of General Motors last week and I said to her that at some point over these next six years I cannot continue to drive on I-80 and see an empty gigantic Lordstown Plant. We have to get that plant back up and running with a new model," he said.
GM CEO Mary Barra oversaw the closing of GM's Lordstown Assembly Plant in early 2019 despite pleas from Governors Kasich and DeWine and Senators Portman and Brown to produce a new model there. What was her reaction?
"Well she gave me a little reasons why it was going to be tough and I said I understand it's going to be tough but in return what we're going to do is create an enviroment here where this is the place you want to do business," he said. "I also told the CEO of Stellantis that the Toledo Plant needs to be expanded. We need to grow that plant, add more people there. We need to bring manufacturing back and the automotive sector at scale means alot to Ohio. That's my singular focus."
And an issue he says that will unite Republicans and Democrats in Washington.
"Absolutely," he said. "Elizabeth Slotkin, Gary Peters, John Fetterman. I think there's a lot of people that we can bring on for the Democrat side to bring back automotive manufacturing to America."
"I think it's important to give these companies certainty over ten years so we don't have one administration to another that swings. So we want to legislate greenhouse gas emissions and incorporate average fuel economy standards for the next decade. We got to get rid of these EV incentives. We're not going to put our thumb on the scale one way or the other. We call it the Automotive Freedom Act, let people decide whatever car they want to buy."
As we approach the second anniversary of the train derailment and fire in East Palestine, Moreno said he plans to resurrect the Railway Safety Act that was co-sponsored by Ohio's former Senators, Republican JD Vance and Democrat Sherrod Brown. It died at the end of the last Congress, having never been brought to the floor for a vote.
"We're going to get that bill across the finish line. That's going to be something I'm going to work on. We're going to get the auto issues done, we're going to take JD's bill," he said, "we're going to get that across the finish line because we need to make certain that if something were to happen in East Palestine never happens again."
Before that, though, he'll be asked to vote to confirm President-elect Trump's cabinet picks. On that, he said there will be no wavering for him.
"It's a blanket yes for one simple reason, President Trump won a clear mandate," he said. "And the reality is he needs to have his own team."
