Rep. Russo: GOP Budget Chooses the Wealthiest Few Over Ohio's Kids, Seniors, and Working Families

COLUMBUS – State Rep. Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) today voted “NO” on House Bill (HB) 96, the Republican-crafted state operating budget, citing cruel and chaotic cuts and its abject failure to invest in children, public education, healthcare, and basic services – all while shoveling billions to the wealthy and well-connected. 

“This budget fails to make life more affordable for working people. This budget fails our children. This budget fails our economic future,” said Rep. Russo. “I believe we could have made a choice to help our constituents sleep better at night, knowing we delivered real relief to make their household budgets go further. Instead, this budget sacrificed reasonable and responsible choices to prioritize making the rich richer. Most Ohioans will not sleep better tonight because this budget wasn’t crafted to benefit them.”

Budgets are about choices, and Statehouse Republicans chose to invest in billionaires and corporations instead of making life more affordable for everyday Ohioans. HB 96 protects a broken status quo—leaving local communities, property taxpayers, and families to shoulder the burden alone. Ohio deserves a budget that lifts people up, not one that leaves them behind. 

This budget chooses the wrong Ohioans in so many ways: 

• An Income Tax Scam for the Ultra-Wealthy: Republicans call it a “flat tax” but it’s really a fat tax cut only for the wealthiest few. Four out of every five Ohioans will see $5 or less under the bill, while someone making $1M gets a $7K tax break. The choice to include this flat tax will cost the state $1.67B over the next two years. Cutting taxes only for the wealthiest isn’t going to solve the real problems facing Ohioans. It’s not going to make childcare cheaper; it's not going to make the cost of rent or healthcare go down, and it's definitely not going to lower rising property taxes.
• Gutting Public Schools: For decades, the state legislature has failed to uphold its share of responsibility to provide adequate state funding for public education. This budget continues to prioritize billions in vouchers for private schools over the investments we should be making in the public schools where 90% of students in the state go to school. The Fair School Funding Plan is a bipartisan, constitutional solution developed by education experts, and Ohio has the resources to fully and fairly fund it. Yet the statehouse republicans deliberately chose to ignore the evidence and continue to underfund our schools.
• Forcing Schools to Put More Property Tax Levies on the Ballot: This budget passes the buck on property tax relief by trying to raid savings accounts that school districts have diligently invested in, instead of the state stepping up to provide the relief. This will only force more schools to put levies on the ballot more often to stay open, so either your taxes will keep going up or your schools will be closing because the state is failing to act.
• Fewer Childcare Slots to Support Working Ohioans: Families need childcare so parents can work, and kids can receive quality early education, but we continue to lag behind the rest of the country when it comes to access and affordability of childcare. This is a question of who we are prioritizing, and the budget is making the wrong choice when it comes to helping families afford childcare.
• Jeopardizing Healthcare Access: Almost 800K Ohioans will be at risk of immediately losing their health insurance and all Ohioans will see hospitals and providers in their communities at risk of closing. For years, Republicans have targeted Medicaid expansion. Now they're using a draconian and unnecessary trigger law to strip healthcare coverage from hundreds of thousands of Ohioans if the federal government lowers its contribution by even a single dollar.
• Putting the State’s Credit on the Line for Billionaire Browns’ Owners: The budget still includes the state fronting $600M by seizing unclaimed funds from Ohio residents for a new Cleveland Browns stadium in a suburb of Cleveland which would move the stadium from its downtown location and is opposed by local leaders.  

HB 96 passed the Ohio House of Representatives by a vote of 59-38 Wednesday. It now heads to Governor DeWine for signature. While the Governor may mitigate some harm through a line-item veto, this budget remains one of the most immoral in Ohio history. This is the first budget to pass without a single Democratic vote in more than a decade.