Former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is launching a think tank he said will focus on one of his top campaign issues, the economy for working Ohioans.
Brown said the Dignity of Work Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank "dedicated to the people who make this country work, and to creating an economy and a society where Americans’ work is valued." He said the organization's mission is to put the interests of workers at the center of the country's politics and to be an engine for national policy change.
“It’s clear that the way people in Washington measure and talk about the economy is fundamentally flawed. It doesn’t reflect the reality of people’s lives," Brown said.
Brown explained a recent study done by Al Quinlan with the firm, GQR, showed Americans are having a tough time keeping up with the cost of living. Quinlan said the study showed 60% of Americans had worked more than one job at a time, and that 20% said they had worked three jobs simultaneously.
Brown said lawmakers need to know what voters are thinking when they craft legislation.
“In my time in the Senate, I did at least 500 roundtables,” Brown said. “One day it might be veterans. Another day it might be health care workers. Another day it might be teachers. Another day it might be a cross- section of people in a small town. Another day it might be farmers. And most of the ideas I had for legislation didn’t come from my brain. They came from individual people at roundtables like that.”
Brown said his next to last vote in the U.S. Senate was for the Social Security Fairness Act, a bi-partisan bill signed by former President Joe Biden which repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset. Brown said passage of that bill helped two million Ohioans get the pensions and social security they had earned.
Brown said Americans believe neither the Republican nor Democratic Party is speaking to the needs of workers. He said his goal with this institute will be to provide data and information that will direct economic policy and politics in the future.
Brown lost his bid for a fourth term in the U.S. Senate in November. And since that time, there have been questions about his future plans. He wouldn't answer that question when asked by reporters.
But Brown's wife, Pulitzer prize winner and columnist Connie Schultz, gave some hints recently when she posted the couple had moved from Cleveland to a Columbus suburb to be closer to their grandchildren. Brown said his focus right now is getting this institute up and running.
