Visiting one of the bigger employers of the Valley, US Senator Rob Portman and Congressman Bill Johnson make a stop in Marietta Friday at Thermo Fisher. Both men say they are working on the Federal lever for company’s like Thermo Fisher.

Some observers were quick to conclude that the New Year’s Eve fiscal cliff agreement “killed” tax reform for 2013. It’s certainly true that President Obama’s insistence on a tax rate hike as the price for preventing trillions of dollars in tax increases on all Americans was a huge missed opportunity. But reports of the death of tax reform are greatly exaggerated. As a new member of the Senate Finance Committee, I am confident that an overhaul of our broken tax system remains not only doable but essential for job creation and economic growth.