As part of his “Make it, Grow it, Move it” August district tour, Second District Congressman Rudy Yakym made a stop at DePuy-Synthes Tuesday.
The tour is taking Yakym to all 11 counties in the district to highlight manufacturing companies, agricultural producers and transportation projects.
After his visit to DePuy and before he visited Pike Lumber in Akron, Yakym took a few minutes to discuss an assortment of topics.
“For me, a tour like this is really a partnership between the federal government and our businesses and our workers to make sure that the things that we make - we make some of the best things that you can possibly make in the world and we export here from the Second Congressional District,” he said. “The ‘growing’ part of it is really focused on agriculture. We feed the world from right here in Indiana’s Second District. And then move it - we are the ‘Crossroads of America,’ so really focused on transportation infrastructure.”
Tuesday, he said he was focused on meeting with DePuy.
“(We’re) meeting with a number of the employees that are here, seeing what they do and how they do it - really helping people have phenomenal mobility as they restore mobility, as they go throughout their lives, and we do that from right here in Indiana Second District, and they export products all over the country.”
After his district tour, Yakym will take what he’s learned and apply that to his job in Congress, whether that’s writing a bill to help his district or opposing a bill that may hinder the district.
“I’ve long said that you can not represent people that you do not know and you have to take the time to get to know people,” he stated. “So often, we’ll have the medical device industry or workers in the medical device industry reach out to me, ask me to sign on to a bill or co-sponsor a bill that helps promote manufacturing of medical devices here in Indiana’s Second District. And in order to do that and make an informed decision, touring through the facilities here in the greater Warsaw community is very helpful to know exactly what they do and how they do it as I’m making decisions on what legislation to co-sponsor that they request.”
In the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, Congress delivered a $20 billion investment in climate-focused conservation funding, enabling farmers to adopt practices that build soil health, sequester carbon and reduce global warming emissions, according to Union of Concerned Scientists’ website. The investment will “begin to revitalize rural economies, improve climate resilience and ensure that our nation’s farmers, ranchers and foresters are part of the solution to climate change.”
Asked about climate change and its possible effect on agriculture, Yakym said, “I think the climate is always changing. It’s been changing for thousands of years, and farmers certainly have to be cognizant of how much rain we are expecting this season or this week and what the temperatures around here are going to be this season. So they’ve got to make decisions as they put crops in the ground and go through harvests.”
Yakym was excited to hit Pike Lumber after DePuy to see what they manufacture there and how they do it.
“I think part of really representing Indiana’s Second District is making sure we get to all 11 counties multiple times. So during the August recess, we have nearly 60 (official) stops planned. We’ll do multiple stops in all 11 counties, and really make sure that we spend time with the companies and with the people that make Indiana work. And that’s really a big part of our focus during the August recess,” he said.
One of the local transportation issues is U.S. 30, which is being studied by the Indiana Department of Transportation. Yakym and his office are paying close attention to that.
“We are actively involved in listening to people along the U.S. 30 corridor and knowing what their needs are,” Yakym said. “The U.S. 30 corridor is such an important corridor that cuts right through the middle of the Second Congressional District, transporting goods and people really across the state of Indiana, so we’re really paying close attention to that.”
Trains also carry goods across the United States, but there have been a number of train derailments this past year, specifically in Ohio. Additionally, many of the local railroad crossings are rough, as members of the Warsaw City Council pointed out during their meeting Monday night.
“Railroad safety is a huge issue. People who are driving around the community, they want to be able to go home safe to their families, and people who are riding on trains want to be able to go home safe to their communities,” Yakym said. “And so, we really pay active attention to railroad safety. Being on the Transportation Infrastructure Committee, we’re in constant communication with the railroads themselves. We have a good relationship with the railroads to make sure we maintain those open lines of communication.”
In addition to that, he said maintaining a record of safety is “critically important to our nation. And one of the things that we’re doing is, some of these most recent railroad accidents that have gotten a lot of attention, we’re waiting for some of the final reports to come out to really understand exactly what happened and how we make sure we prevent accidents like that in the future.”
Should there be a train accident or derailment, first responders are likely going to be the first ones on the scene - firefighters, EMS, law enforcement. For them to respond effectively and efficiently, it helps for them to have the best equipment possible.
Yakym said there are federal grants available and oftentimes his office will step in and help author letters of support for federal grants for EMS services.
“I know we’ve done a few of those here this year since I’ve stepped into this role, and we’re happy to continue to partner with our local EMS providers on federal grants,” he said.
In 2024, the Warsaw Municipal Airport will be receiving a number of federal and state grants for several projects. Yakym is very much aware of the importance of an airport to the growth of the community that it’s in.
“Overall, as the vice chair of the Aviation Subcommittee in U.S. Congress, air transportation is a big deal, both for cargo and for people,” Yakym said.
“We have a good partnership with the Warsaw Airport here - as we do with all of our municipal and regional/international airports here in the Second District - and making sure that the federal government stays out of the way when an airport wants to do an expansion, that’s really a big part of the role that we play.
“I do believe that having a great airport facility - both runways and facilities - on site is critically important to maintaining the growth of a community. A lot of airports are doing runway extensions because the planes that are landing are bigger today than they were 10, 15, 20 years ago. So to the extent that we can partner with our local airports to get the federal government out of the way so that they can do what they do best, which is run their airports, it’s really a big part of the role we play in Congress,” Yakym stated.