Banks Leans On Military Service In Congressional Run
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
One year ago Jim Banks was serving in Afghanistan as a Navy Reserve officer. While he was deployed, his wife, Amanda, served in his place in the Indiana senate.
“When I returned home from Afghanistan, the political dominoes were falling,”?Banks said in an interview Friday morning. “(U.S. Sen.) Dan Coats announced he wasn’t running again. (Third District Congressman) Marlin (Stutzman) immediately announced he would run for the U.S. Senate seat, and I felt strongly that it was an opportunity to serve my country in a new way after coming home from Afghanistan and experiencing what I experienced there.”
Banks has been an Indiana senator for six years, taking over for Gary Dillon in 2010. At that time, he represented “a good chunk” of Kosciusko County – mostly the area that included the Whitko School District where he went to school growing up – but after redistricting he lost the Kosciusko part of his senate district. His district now includes Wabash County and portions of Whitley, Huntington and Grant counties.
In the Republican primary, Banks is up for the Third District seat against Mark Willard Baringer, Elizabeth “Liz” Brown, Pam Galloway, Kevin “Sgt.” Howell and Kip Tom, according to the Indiana Election Division website. The winning Republican will face off against the Democrat challenger, who could be Toby Lamp, Todd Nightenhelser, John Forrest Roberson or Tommy Schrader.
Asked why he would be the better candidate, Banks focused on a couple of areas.
“First and foremost, I’m not just in this race – I’m the only candidate in the country who has recently deployed to a combat zone and experienced what our troops experience on a daily basis,” he said. “And that powerful perspective and experience is needed in Washington today.”
He said today there are only 25 members of Congress who are post-9/11 Afghanistan or Iraq war veterans. In 1971, over 70 percent of Congress had some background in military service. Today it’s less than 20 percent, Banks stated.
“As we talk about the issue of the day, which is keeping America safe, the threat that we face here and abroad from ISIS and from our enemies, I believe the perspective of just coming home, literally just coming home from a combat zone where I served, provides me the unique perspective in this race to keep America safe,” Banks said. “I feel, personally, that the last seven-plus years have had a strong weakening effect on our military.”
The U.S. military has been weakened more than anytime in the country’s history, he said. The Navy is smaller than it’s been since World War I; and the Army is smaller than it’s been since before World War II.
“We’ve seen budget cuts year in and year out under this current administration. So the next president and the next Congress have their hands full in rebuilding the military and making it mighty again, as a deterrent against our enemies who seek to do us harm,” Banks said.
In defeating terrorist groups like ISIS, he said, “First and foremost there’s a projection of strength. We have a president today that literally refuses to acknowledge and identify the enemy, which is radical Islamic terrorism. Because of that refusal, that inability to identify and confront the enemy, we’ve been left weakened because of that idealogy, so we have to be vigilant in identifying the enemy.”
The terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., in 2015 is an example of what the U.S. will inevitably see more of if “we don’t take the threat seriously,” he said. Banks said U.S. generals are on the record as stating the country is not prepared for the next conflict that it will face.
San Bernardino shooters Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik interrupted a holiday party in December at the Inland Regional Center, which serves developmentally disabled people, according to USA Today. They killed 14, injured at least 20 others and left a bomb behind that did not explode. They were killed in a shootout with officers.
President Obama was so “intent in having a footnote in the history books” by pulling out U.S. troops from the country’s longest conflict, that Obama left Iraq and Afghanistan in “chaos and turmoil,” leading to the rise of ISIS and other terrorist cells. The last nine months in Afghanistan has been the “bloodiest” period because of Obama’s military decisions, Banks claimed.
“It’s a matter of identifying the enemy. It’s a matter of rebuilding the military so we’re focused on the next conflict. And, I believe, it’s a matter of protecting our own borders,” Banks said.
In San Bernardino attack, Banks said the wife was granted a visa, but the intelligence process didn’t even go as far as vetting her social media accounts where she acknowledged she was a radical jihadist and wanted to do harm to Americans.
“The very fact that we’re not addressing issues like that to keep America safe; I believe that the weak, porous border at Mexico is a national security threat that we have to confront as well, that I would be focused on if I was the next member of Congress,” Banks said.
He said that building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is “a basic first step in protecting our borders, securing our borders.” Intelligence has indicated that ISIS has a deliberative strategy to use America’s weak borders to funnel their cells to America to harm the U.S. way of life, Banks stated.
More border patrol agents and security are needed at the border, as well as a better infrastructure to protect the country from those who cross the border illegally, he said.
He said that makes him stand out ahead of the other Third District candidates. On top of that, he’s also been a “staunch conservative state senator,” he said. “My record stands out among my opponents and even in the state senate where I serve as a leading conservative, a fiscal conservative who’s never voted for a tax increase, who’s been a staunch defender of our constitutional rights, our Second Amendment rights. One hundred percent pro-life voting record. I would say those are the two areas that make me different than my opponents.”
Asked which presidential candidate he thinks he could work with best if he got into Congress, Banks said, “I’m the youngest candidate running in the race as well, so I’m inspired by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who represent a younger generation of conservative leadership.”
If elected, Banks would take office when the next U.S. president is taking office as well, in January 2017.
“I believe that we’re at a historic moment in our country, and the next Congress and the next president will have a gigantic task in front of them of, as we talked about, rebuilding the military, keeping us safe against the threat we face of ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism. And I believe that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are two candidates that are ready to confront those issues,” Banks stated.
For more on Banks and his campaign, visit www.jimbanks.us/calledtoserve/[[In-content Ad]]
One year ago Jim Banks was serving in Afghanistan as a Navy Reserve officer. While he was deployed, his wife, Amanda, served in his place in the Indiana senate.
“When I returned home from Afghanistan, the political dominoes were falling,”?Banks said in an interview Friday morning. “(U.S. Sen.) Dan Coats announced he wasn’t running again. (Third District Congressman) Marlin (Stutzman) immediately announced he would run for the U.S. Senate seat, and I felt strongly that it was an opportunity to serve my country in a new way after coming home from Afghanistan and experiencing what I experienced there.”
Banks has been an Indiana senator for six years, taking over for Gary Dillon in 2010. At that time, he represented “a good chunk” of Kosciusko County – mostly the area that included the Whitko School District where he went to school growing up – but after redistricting he lost the Kosciusko part of his senate district. His district now includes Wabash County and portions of Whitley, Huntington and Grant counties.
In the Republican primary, Banks is up for the Third District seat against Mark Willard Baringer, Elizabeth “Liz” Brown, Pam Galloway, Kevin “Sgt.” Howell and Kip Tom, according to the Indiana Election Division website. The winning Republican will face off against the Democrat challenger, who could be Toby Lamp, Todd Nightenhelser, John Forrest Roberson or Tommy Schrader.
Asked why he would be the better candidate, Banks focused on a couple of areas.
“First and foremost, I’m not just in this race – I’m the only candidate in the country who has recently deployed to a combat zone and experienced what our troops experience on a daily basis,” he said. “And that powerful perspective and experience is needed in Washington today.”
He said today there are only 25 members of Congress who are post-9/11 Afghanistan or Iraq war veterans. In 1971, over 70 percent of Congress had some background in military service. Today it’s less than 20 percent, Banks stated.
“As we talk about the issue of the day, which is keeping America safe, the threat that we face here and abroad from ISIS and from our enemies, I believe the perspective of just coming home, literally just coming home from a combat zone where I served, provides me the unique perspective in this race to keep America safe,” Banks said. “I feel, personally, that the last seven-plus years have had a strong weakening effect on our military.”
The U.S. military has been weakened more than anytime in the country’s history, he said. The Navy is smaller than it’s been since World War I; and the Army is smaller than it’s been since before World War II.
“We’ve seen budget cuts year in and year out under this current administration. So the next president and the next Congress have their hands full in rebuilding the military and making it mighty again, as a deterrent against our enemies who seek to do us harm,” Banks said.
In defeating terrorist groups like ISIS, he said, “First and foremost there’s a projection of strength. We have a president today that literally refuses to acknowledge and identify the enemy, which is radical Islamic terrorism. Because of that refusal, that inability to identify and confront the enemy, we’ve been left weakened because of that idealogy, so we have to be vigilant in identifying the enemy.”
The terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., in 2015 is an example of what the U.S. will inevitably see more of if “we don’t take the threat seriously,” he said. Banks said U.S. generals are on the record as stating the country is not prepared for the next conflict that it will face.
San Bernardino shooters Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik interrupted a holiday party in December at the Inland Regional Center, which serves developmentally disabled people, according to USA Today. They killed 14, injured at least 20 others and left a bomb behind that did not explode. They were killed in a shootout with officers.
President Obama was so “intent in having a footnote in the history books” by pulling out U.S. troops from the country’s longest conflict, that Obama left Iraq and Afghanistan in “chaos and turmoil,” leading to the rise of ISIS and other terrorist cells. The last nine months in Afghanistan has been the “bloodiest” period because of Obama’s military decisions, Banks claimed.
“It’s a matter of identifying the enemy. It’s a matter of rebuilding the military so we’re focused on the next conflict. And, I believe, it’s a matter of protecting our own borders,” Banks said.
In San Bernardino attack, Banks said the wife was granted a visa, but the intelligence process didn’t even go as far as vetting her social media accounts where she acknowledged she was a radical jihadist and wanted to do harm to Americans.
“The very fact that we’re not addressing issues like that to keep America safe; I believe that the weak, porous border at Mexico is a national security threat that we have to confront as well, that I would be focused on if I was the next member of Congress,” Banks said.
He said that building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is “a basic first step in protecting our borders, securing our borders.” Intelligence has indicated that ISIS has a deliberative strategy to use America’s weak borders to funnel their cells to America to harm the U.S. way of life, Banks stated.
More border patrol agents and security are needed at the border, as well as a better infrastructure to protect the country from those who cross the border illegally, he said.
He said that makes him stand out ahead of the other Third District candidates. On top of that, he’s also been a “staunch conservative state senator,” he said. “My record stands out among my opponents and even in the state senate where I serve as a leading conservative, a fiscal conservative who’s never voted for a tax increase, who’s been a staunch defender of our constitutional rights, our Second Amendment rights. One hundred percent pro-life voting record. I would say those are the two areas that make me different than my opponents.”
Asked which presidential candidate he thinks he could work with best if he got into Congress, Banks said, “I’m the youngest candidate running in the race as well, so I’m inspired by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who represent a younger generation of conservative leadership.”
If elected, Banks would take office when the next U.S. president is taking office as well, in January 2017.
“I believe that we’re at a historic moment in our country, and the next Congress and the next president will have a gigantic task in front of them of, as we talked about, rebuilding the military, keeping us safe against the threat we face of ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism. And I believe that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are two candidates that are ready to confront those issues,” Banks stated.
For more on Banks and his campaign, visit www.jimbanks.us/calledtoserve/[[In-content Ad]]
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