Rotunda Rumblings
‘Bus fare: The Ohio House on Tuesday dropped a sweeping omnibus amendment to the state budget that walks back some changes top Republicans introduced last week. Jeremy Pelzer and Jake Zuckerman write that the changes include allowing school districts to hold stronger reserves, giving a boost to libraries after originally proposing a cut and providing pay raises to myriad elected officials (but not lawmakers), among dozens of other tweaks.
Library line item: House Republicans rolled back parts of their library funding overhaul Tuesday. The GOP budget now includes more state dollars for public libraries and a return to the current method of distribution. The suggested formula, based on estimated population, would have cut funding for 39 counties, including Cuyahoga. Anna Staver reports that the GOP plan to stop giving libraries a percentage of state taxes remains in the budget as it heads to the floor for a vote.
Unplugged: Gov. Mike DeWine championed Senate Bill 158, which would ban students’ cell phone use in class, Laura Hancock reports. DeWine last year signed a bill that is requiring districts to create policies to limit cell phone usage. Not all districts have created policies – their deadline is July 1 – but now the governor wants to go further and ban their use altogether.
Target list: Emboldened by Democratic candidates’ showings last week in two Florida congressional races, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is adding Ohio Republicans Max Miller, Mike Turner and Mike Carey to the list of incumbents it will strive to topple in 2026, Sabrina Eaton reports. None of the three targeted Republicans have made political prognosticators’ lists of vulnerable incumbents. While Turner has made the DCCC’s target list in several past elections, the organization has not made recent efforts to win districts represented by Carey or Miller.
Dogging DOGE: U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown on Tuesday told a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing that federal efforts to sell Cleveland’s Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building “could destabilize essential services for my constituents, displace some 4,000 federal employees and deal a blow to the local economy,” Eaton writes. “What it really represents is another example of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s chaotic and careless approach to cost cutting,” the Warrensville Heights Democrat said at a hearing on reducing the federal government’s real estate portfolio. ”In fact, cost cutting is too generous. What they are really doing is looting the federal government and stripping it for parts."
Four Pinnochios: A Washington Post fact check awarded “Four Pinnochios” to Vice President JD Vance’s claim that during a Fox News interview on Thursday that 40% of people who call Social Security “are actually committing fraud.” It called his statement “an absurdity on its face — the kind of twisted logic that turns up at the end of a long game of telephone tag.” It concluded he was distorting a Social Security statement last month that said “Approximately 40 percent of Social Security direct deposit fraud is associated with someone calling SSA to change direct deposit bank information,” which is prompting SSA to require more information from beneficiaries to change bank account information.
Ignorant and impolite: China is calling Vance “ignorant and impolite” after he said in the same Fox News interview that America had been borrowing money from “Chinese peasants,” BBC reports. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters on Tuesday that Vance’s comments - which caused a stir on Chinese social media - were “surprising and sad”.
Visas revoked: Visas for a handful of international students at Ohio State University, Kent State University, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Akron have been revoked. The schools say the federal government has not said why. Ohio Capital Journal’s Megan Henry reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered overseas diplomats to pour over students’ social media for anti-U.S. or anti-Israel sentiments.
Eggcelent money: Egg producers with locations in Ohio are expected to report profits, while also receiving millions in federal relief due to the avian flu, the Washington Post’s Peter Whoriskey reports. That includes Cal-Maine, which received $43 million in federal money; Hillandale, which received $53 million; and Versova, which received $107 million.
Resigned: A recruitment specialist at Ohio State University told the Dispatch’s Sheridan Hendrix they resigned when the school closed its diversity, equity and inclusion offices. Kieran Duhl resigned at an event for multicultural students, which was posted on social media.
Lobbying Lineup
Four organizations that lobbied the governor and executive agencies over workers’ compensation issues in 2024.
1. Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
2. Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants
3. Figur8
4. Iron Road
On the Move
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican, has endorsed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for Ohio governor in 2026, issuing a statement that said, “he’ll make our state proud.”
Birthdays
Rachel Coyle, policy director at Honesty for Ohio Education and programs director at Ohioans Against Extremism
Haylee Dunahay, director of coalitions for Gov. Mike DeWine
Andrew Shehorn, Summit County Republican Party treasurer
Nathan Slonaker, creative director, The Strategy Group
Straight from the Source
“If you want to talk about tax cuts, this is the most effective way that we can spend money. It’s the most effective tax cut that I can envision, because it goes to support the most important thing in our society: Our families.”
-Gov. Mike DeWine, defending his plan to offer families a child tax credit on Tuesday, after the Ohio House’s version of the state budget removed it.
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