Republicans need to get a majority in the Senate in November to take critical action, not simply to win an election, says Ohio Senator Rob Portman.
"I really think the country is in trouble," Portman said Sunday on "The Cats Roundtable" on
New York's 970 AM The Answer.
Some of those action points, Portman told host John Catsimatidis, include tax reform, international trade and increased domestic energy production. He also wants to see a balanced budget.
Even if Republicans take the Senate and retain control of the House, they face the veto pen of Democratic President Barack Obama.
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Still, Portman thinks Obama would sign some of the GOP's bills, such as corporate tax reform and approval for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Portman was on the short list to be on the presidential ticket with GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. Catsimatidis asked how things would have been different under a President Romney.
Iraq would have been completely different, Portman said, saying that Romney would have left enough troops in the country to have prevented the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS.)
"America would be more determined," he said. "We would have a strategy, and we would be reacting much more quickly."
Portman also urged the United States to lead NATO in supplying defensive weapons to Ukraine as it fights off an invasion from Russia.
"What they respect is action, not words," Portman said, alluding to actions that have, so far, not extended beyond increased economic sanctions against Russia combined with U.N. resolutions.
"We've got to make them understand that NATO's for real," Portman said.
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