In the nearly two decades that former Sen. Sherrod Brown spent in the U.S. Senate, he sponsored or supported numerous pieces of legislation to support working families. He says that if he reclaims a seat representing Ohio in that body, he plans to pick up where he left off.
“The system is rigged against workers in this country and it has been for years,” Brown said back in August of last year, as he launched his Senate campaign.
“I spent my career taking on that rigged system and I have seen in the last few months that the system is more rigged against workers than it has been.” Brown, 73, who was born and raised in Mansfield, lost his seat to Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno in the 2024 election. He’s facing off against Republican Sen. Jon Husted, whom Gov. Mike DeWine appointed last year to fill the seat J.D. Vance vacated when he became vice president. If elected by Ohioans in the Nov. 3 special election, Brown would serve the last two years of Vance’s term.
He has a long list of bona fides when it comes to advocating for workers’ health and well-being. In 2015, Brown introduced the Stabilize Medicaid and CHIP Coverage Act of 2015, which would have guaranteed 12 months of continuous Medicaid and CHIP coverage for eligible individuals, so families wouldn’t lose insurance over short-term income changes or paperwork snags. He’s reintroduced versions of the bill nearly every Congress since, but the legislation still hasn’t passed.
He backed the GAIN Act (Grow American Incomes Now) in 2017, which would have roughly doubled the earned income tax credit for working families and increased it nearly sixfold for childless workers. “Americans are working longer hours, but too many aren’t seeing that hard work reflected in their pay. And worse — our tax system can actually tax workers into poverty,” Brown said in a statement at the time. “Updating the EITC will make sure all workers can keep more of the money they earned for their work.” The legislation failed to advance, however, in the Republican-controlled Congress.
A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown voted for the 2021 American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion relief package that sent out stimulus checks, expanded unemployment benefits, and funded vaccines, schools, and state governments.
In 2023, he co-sponsored the Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act, which would have given federal workers 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
And in 2024, Brown co-sponsored Sen. Bob Casey’s Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Enhancement Act of 2024. Casey, who also lost reelection in 2024, and other Democrats have reintroduced that legislation repeatedly over the years, which would make the existing child care tax credit fully refundable and worth up to $4,000 per child for middle- and lower-income families trying to keep up with child care costs.
