My dad did everything he could. It was a start-up, and the banks didn't want to lend him enough money, so he mortgaged our house.

Out of college, I had two job offers. One was to be a canoe instructor for Outward Bound. And frankly, that would have paid better than the job I took, working on a policy commission in Washington that focused on immigration policy and refugees. But that decision made all the difference.

No one in my family had ever been in politics. My dad thought it was something that got in the way.

Rob Portman Quotes