Portman comments on President Obama's announcement on targeted airstrikes in Iraq

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has issued the following statement following President Obama's announcement that he has authorized targeted airstrikes to protect U.S. personnel and help threatened Iraqis:

"I am pleased that the United States military was able to provide much-needed humanitarian relief for innocent Iraqi civilians persecuted for their religious beliefs, and I support targeted airstrikes against ISIS terrorists threatening American interests. I urge the administration to lead by working with our allies to turn back ISIS and preserve America's hard-won gains in Iraq."

Portman will host a roundtable discussion today on recent reports of violence against Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq. The roundtable will be attended by Ohio Christians who experienced persecution in the Middle East.

Portman recently introduced a bipartisan resolution condemning the violence and persecution of Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities by the Islamic State in Iraq.

The resolution also urges the President to reaffirm America’s commitment to religious liberty by helping to create safe zones for refugees fleeing persecution, ensuring timely processing of visa applications from religious minorities, and working with the Iraqi government to ensure religious minorities are protected.

The Islamic State has forced Christians in the territory it controls to flee their homes, convert to Islam, or face execution.

Obama announced on Thursday night that he authorized two operations in the country – "targeted airstrikes to protect our American personnel, and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food and water and facing almost certain death.

"In recent days, Yezidi women, men and children from the area of Sinjar have fled for their lives. And thousands – perhaps tens of thousands – are now hiding high up on the mountain, with little but the clothes on their backs.

"They’re without food, they’re without water. People are starving. And children are dying of thirst," Obama said. "Meanwhile, ISIL forces below have called for the systematic destruction of the entire Yezidi people, which would constitute genocide. So these innocent families are faced with a horrible choice: Descend the mountain and be slaughtered, or stay and slowly die of thirst and hunger."

For more information, go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/08/07/president-obama-makes-statement-iraq.

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Portman also released the following statement after the Ohio Department of Insurance announced that average premiums will increase by 12 percent for individuals and small businesses, a 53-percent increase in the past two years, for health plans sold in 2015 on the federal exchange created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA):

“Today’s announcement that Ohioans are facing double-digit insurance premium hikes provides more evidence that Obamacare is not working for Ohio families.

"That’s money that could have gone toward retirement, groceries, and their children’s higher education; instead it’s going to cover the costly health law.”