FARMERSBURG, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — While the United States Senate is on recess, Indiana Senator Jim Banks (R) sat down for a one-on-one interview with WTWO’s Jen Thompson about where things currently stand in Washington.
“I’m new to the Senate. I’m proud to be Indiana’s new Senator,” Jim Banks said. “We’ve been busy in Washington,” he added.
Senator Banks said significant wins mark he first eight months of his Senate term for Hoosier families. Including a sweeping tax bill and a bipartisan housing bill.
Senator Banks said the passing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” was a milestone in office. He said it cuts taxes for working Hoosiers, adds requirements to Medicaid, boosts border security, and pays for the massive deportation efforts of the Trump Administration, and funds the Golden Dome, which he said Indiana will play a big role in at Crane.
He said the “One Big Beautiful Bill” is the biggest tax cut in American history and that the passing of the bill is the most important work they’ve done.
“Anywhere in the state, it means more money in the pockets of hardworking Hoosiers. That’s good for the economy, that’s good for local communities, but it’s really good for families who are trying to keep up and make ends meet and put away and save money,” he said.
As for adding requirements to Medicaid, Senator Banks said, “There are six million Americans who right now don’t work who collect Medicaid, but they are able-bodied, they can work, and that’ll save American taxpayers over ten years about six hundred billion dollars when those recipients go back to the workforce.”
Senator Banks also mentioned no taxes and tips, no taxes on overtime, stating that it’s really good for working-class American’s but it’s also good for manufacturing in the state.
“Indiana’s the top manufacturing state in the country, and those jobs are really important to our local economies, like in Terre Haute and that part of the state,” he said.
Senator Banks also introduced the bipartisan RESIDE Act. It’s aimed at turning abandoned buildings into homes, something mayors across Indiana are said to support, including Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun and Vincennes Mayor Joe Yochum.
Senator Banks said that whether he is in Terre Haute or at home in Ft. Wayne, he continuously hears about housing issues.
“With the housing crisis in this country, it costs way too much to build a new house or buy a house because of interest rates and regulations,” he said. “But the RESIDE Act will work with communities to take buildings we already have to be quickly repurposed into housing, and that’s going to be really helpful for places like Terre Haute.”
Senator Banks said the act has bipartisan support.
“Republicans and Democrats agree on this, that housing is an issue that we have to address and fix,” he said. “You talk about the American Dream. The American Dream is owning a home and building equity in that home and the investment that goes into it, and so we have to make that more affordable and more possible for Hoosier families, especially young families, to find affordable housing.”
“The RESIDE act that I authored, apart of a bigger bill, that I cosponsored and voted for out of committee is going to be on the floor of the senate when we get back after the August recess and I expect it to pass our of the senate just as it passed out of the full senate with full senate with broad bipartisan support and will hopefully reach president Trump’s desk sometime in September, October so he can sign it into law.”
He said that both efforts are part of a larger push to lower the cost of living and create more opportunities across the state.
“We got a lot done in the first eight months of the year, but we’ve still got a lot more to do to bring down inflation, bring down the cost of living, to bring more good-paying jobs to Indiana,” he said. “President Trump is the best President of my lifetime when it comes to supporting working-class Hoosiers and families. We have a lot more to do, but I’m proud of what we’ve done so far, and I’m proud to be Indiana’s new senator,” he added.
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