Senate Report Card: Sherrod Brown D-OH

Senator Sherrod Brown is the junior Democratic United States Senator from the state of Ohio. Senator Brown assumed office in 2006 as part of the Democratic wave that took back both parts of Congress from the Republican control. He previously served in the House of Representatives, and unseated Republican incumbent Mike DeWine. He also served as Ohio's Secretary of State.

Senator Brown serves on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee; the Veterans' Affairs Committee; the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Brown led the Democratic effort to block the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Senator Brown is pro choice with regards to abortion voting against the Partial Birth Abortion Bill, the Child Interstate Notification Act and for the Family Planning Assistance Fund to limit the amount of unnecessary abortions.

Brown has been criticized by the right for voting against the Agriculture Act of 2001, the Family Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 and the Agriculture Appropriations Bill of of 2000.

He is a supporter of animal rights, voting for the Horse Slaughter Prohibition bill and the Endangered Species Act. He supports the National Endowment for the Arts.

Senator Brown voted for several incarnations of the Flag Desecration bill, as well as all amendments attached to the bill. He is a supporter of gay rights, voting against the Defense of Marriage Act. He supported English as the Common Language. He is in favor of term limits.

Senator Brown voted for President Bush's Education plan, No Child Left Behind. He supported loan forgiveness for Teachers. He voted against the Head Start bill. He's also voted against a few higher education funding bills, for unknown reasons. He did vote for the Ready to Teach Act, that would recruit highly capable individuals from the private sector to enter the field of teaching and improve the quality of teachers across the country.

With regards to crime, he voted against the Anti-Crime bill, the Juvenile Crime bill and the Juvenile Justice bill. He supported Megan's Law and barring immigrants with certain criminal histories, though he later voted against denying legal status for immigrants convicted of certain crimes.

Sherrod Brown opposed the Iraq War Resolution. While in the House of Representatives, Brown voted against the Defense Department Authorization bill. He voted for an Iraq Troop Reduction. He supports placing restrictions on troop deployments that would allow for longer periods of time between troop tours of duty, thus giving more time to adjust between the tours for strained soldiers.

Senator Sherrod Brown will face reelection in 2011.