Yakym Highlights Top Voter Issues During Stop In Warsaw
October 28, 2022 at 9:45 p.m.
Yakym Highlights Top Voter Issues During Stop In Warsaw
By David [email protected]
“We’re taking nothing for granted. We’re really trying to get out and tour the entire district and get to every county as many times as we possibly can,” he said before having lunch with a group of Kosciusko County Republicans at The Downtown in Warsaw.
Yakym said he’s doing as many face-to-face meetings as he can. His schedule kept him in Kosciusko County from 11 a.m. to about 9 p.m. Friday for a number of face-to-face meetings with people to hear their concerns.
“We’re running hard at it and just hearing from Hoosiers,” he said, offering the top three issues he’s hearing about.
“The first issue is an issue around inflation. Inflation is something that impacts every single person. Whether you’re a small business trying to hire people; you’re someone that is retired who is living on a fixed income or Social Security and a pension; and your costs for gas and groceries are going up faster than what you can raise your income. So, that’s a real issue that we’re hearing from Hoosiers about,” Yakym said.
He said what’s caused the inflation is an imbalanced budget.
“So we’re spending a few trillion dollars per year more than what we’re taking in, so we need to balance our federal budget in order to fix inflation,” Yakym stated.
The second issue he said he’s hearing about “loud and clear” is the issue around security.
“And I would paint a pretty broad brush with security. It’s everything from backing up our local and state police to securing the southern border and making sure that we put that in a much better position than it is today. All the way to international security, maintaining a strong military presence on the international stage,” Yakym said. “What we know for sure is that weakness arouses evil militarily internationally. We need to have a strong military presence internationally.”
As a part of security, he said the U.S. needs to take care of its veterans.
“And then the third big issue that we’re hearing from Hoosiers about is an issue around what I would call energy independence,” Yakym stated. “The way we are structured today, we have put ourselves in a position where we allow foreign governments to dictate our energy prices here in the 2nd Congressional District.”
As an example, Yakym said when Saudi Arabia and OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels of oil per day - because in their minds $84 per barrel at that time wasn’t enough - energy prices spiked and gas prices went up by 25 to 50 cents a gallon immediately.
“So we need to get back to a place where we have absolute total energy independence, and by doing so, we end up being able to control our own destiny economically,” Yakym stated.
Asked about Ukraine and its war with Russia and if the U.S. needs to continue to stay as involved as it is now, Yakym said the U.S. can not allow nations to bulldoze other nations.
“We can not allow that to happen. Weakness arouses evil, and weakness of the United States on the international stage has aroused the Russian empire and it’s emboldened them to come across that western front,” he said.
A hundred years ago, Yakym’s great-grandfather came to the United States from Eastern Europe.
“He came here because the Russian army was building bases in his town preparing for World War I, and it caused him to leave his home country. And we can not allow nations to bulldoze other nations,” Yakym said.
At the start of the war in Ukraine, he said the U.S. took a “fairly weak position” and we’re now a little bit more engaged there. “As a result, Ukrainians are driving the Russians back and they should continue to do so,” Yakym said.
Recently, there’s been talk about vans or even buses dropping off immigrants from the border at the Warsaw Walmart, though that hasn’t been 100% verified at this point.
Asked about those rumors, Yakym responded, “What I would say about the southern border is, we know in just the last 18 months alone there’s been a few million people that have come across the southern border. One out of every 100 people in the United States has come here in the last - call it 2-1/2 to three years - across the southern border.
“What we also know is - and this is an issue that I’ve heard from community leaders here in Warsaw - that there are major overdoses of significantly high number of ... fentanyl here in Kosciusko County. We know where the fentanyl is coming from. It’s coming across the southern border illegally.”
Yakym said he is 100% for legal immigration and for “taking a look at our legal immigration system, which is overly complex, very difficult to navigate. Whether you’re an immigrant that wants to come here, you’re a business that wants to hire someone that’s in a foreign country and want to bring them here, it’s overly complex and we have to figure out ways to simplify it and make it much smoother for people to come here.”
At the same time, however, he said there has to be security around the southern border. “Because if you don’t have security, every state, every city is a border community and that includes Warsaw,” Yakym said.
Describing what would be his style as a Congressman if elected Nov. 8, Yakym said it was one of an “effective conservative leader.”
“That’s really what I want to be known for. I think there are people who are effective but might not necessarily be conservative, and then there are people who are conservative but might not necessarily be effective. So my approach is one of, let’s call it an effective conservative member, is how I would navigate that,” he explained.
He believes that the Republicans will take the U.S. House on Nov. 8 by a significant margin. At the same time, they may or may not take the U.S. Senate and Republicans don’t have the presidency.
“So, we’re all going to have to come together and negotiate with each other. That’s part of the deal,” Yakym said. ‘There’s a lot of people that think we can’t do anything unless we have all three. I’m cut from the mindset that says we have an opportunity and a seat at the negotiating table when we take the House.”
Asked what Committees he’d want to serve on if elected to the House, Yakym said to him the Committee assignments should be a reflection of the priorities of the member and of the district.
“Jackie was on House Ways & Means. It’s a Committee that you can really influence and drive a lot of good policy through that Committee. So that is a Committee that I would love to have an opportunity to serve on,” Yakym said.
Yakym was tapped by a Republican caucus of nearly 375 precinct committee members Aug. 20 as the Indiana GOP nominee for the November general election in place of Jackie Walorski. Walorski, who was unopposed in the spring primary, and three others were killed in a two-vehicle crash Aug. 3.
A special election to determine who will finish out Walorski’s current term, which extends to the end of the year, also will take place on Nov. 8.
Walorski’s husband, Dean Swihart, endorsed Yakym at the caucus.
“We’re taking nothing for granted. We’re really trying to get out and tour the entire district and get to every county as many times as we possibly can,” he said before having lunch with a group of Kosciusko County Republicans at The Downtown in Warsaw.
Yakym said he’s doing as many face-to-face meetings as he can. His schedule kept him in Kosciusko County from 11 a.m. to about 9 p.m. Friday for a number of face-to-face meetings with people to hear their concerns.
“We’re running hard at it and just hearing from Hoosiers,” he said, offering the top three issues he’s hearing about.
“The first issue is an issue around inflation. Inflation is something that impacts every single person. Whether you’re a small business trying to hire people; you’re someone that is retired who is living on a fixed income or Social Security and a pension; and your costs for gas and groceries are going up faster than what you can raise your income. So, that’s a real issue that we’re hearing from Hoosiers about,” Yakym said.
He said what’s caused the inflation is an imbalanced budget.
“So we’re spending a few trillion dollars per year more than what we’re taking in, so we need to balance our federal budget in order to fix inflation,” Yakym stated.
The second issue he said he’s hearing about “loud and clear” is the issue around security.
“And I would paint a pretty broad brush with security. It’s everything from backing up our local and state police to securing the southern border and making sure that we put that in a much better position than it is today. All the way to international security, maintaining a strong military presence on the international stage,” Yakym said. “What we know for sure is that weakness arouses evil militarily internationally. We need to have a strong military presence internationally.”
As a part of security, he said the U.S. needs to take care of its veterans.
“And then the third big issue that we’re hearing from Hoosiers about is an issue around what I would call energy independence,” Yakym stated. “The way we are structured today, we have put ourselves in a position where we allow foreign governments to dictate our energy prices here in the 2nd Congressional District.”
As an example, Yakym said when Saudi Arabia and OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels of oil per day - because in their minds $84 per barrel at that time wasn’t enough - energy prices spiked and gas prices went up by 25 to 50 cents a gallon immediately.
“So we need to get back to a place where we have absolute total energy independence, and by doing so, we end up being able to control our own destiny economically,” Yakym stated.
Asked about Ukraine and its war with Russia and if the U.S. needs to continue to stay as involved as it is now, Yakym said the U.S. can not allow nations to bulldoze other nations.
“We can not allow that to happen. Weakness arouses evil, and weakness of the United States on the international stage has aroused the Russian empire and it’s emboldened them to come across that western front,” he said.
A hundred years ago, Yakym’s great-grandfather came to the United States from Eastern Europe.
“He came here because the Russian army was building bases in his town preparing for World War I, and it caused him to leave his home country. And we can not allow nations to bulldoze other nations,” Yakym said.
At the start of the war in Ukraine, he said the U.S. took a “fairly weak position” and we’re now a little bit more engaged there. “As a result, Ukrainians are driving the Russians back and they should continue to do so,” Yakym said.
Recently, there’s been talk about vans or even buses dropping off immigrants from the border at the Warsaw Walmart, though that hasn’t been 100% verified at this point.
Asked about those rumors, Yakym responded, “What I would say about the southern border is, we know in just the last 18 months alone there’s been a few million people that have come across the southern border. One out of every 100 people in the United States has come here in the last - call it 2-1/2 to three years - across the southern border.
“What we also know is - and this is an issue that I’ve heard from community leaders here in Warsaw - that there are major overdoses of significantly high number of ... fentanyl here in Kosciusko County. We know where the fentanyl is coming from. It’s coming across the southern border illegally.”
Yakym said he is 100% for legal immigration and for “taking a look at our legal immigration system, which is overly complex, very difficult to navigate. Whether you’re an immigrant that wants to come here, you’re a business that wants to hire someone that’s in a foreign country and want to bring them here, it’s overly complex and we have to figure out ways to simplify it and make it much smoother for people to come here.”
At the same time, however, he said there has to be security around the southern border. “Because if you don’t have security, every state, every city is a border community and that includes Warsaw,” Yakym said.
Describing what would be his style as a Congressman if elected Nov. 8, Yakym said it was one of an “effective conservative leader.”
“That’s really what I want to be known for. I think there are people who are effective but might not necessarily be conservative, and then there are people who are conservative but might not necessarily be effective. So my approach is one of, let’s call it an effective conservative member, is how I would navigate that,” he explained.
He believes that the Republicans will take the U.S. House on Nov. 8 by a significant margin. At the same time, they may or may not take the U.S. Senate and Republicans don’t have the presidency.
“So, we’re all going to have to come together and negotiate with each other. That’s part of the deal,” Yakym said. ‘There’s a lot of people that think we can’t do anything unless we have all three. I’m cut from the mindset that says we have an opportunity and a seat at the negotiating table when we take the House.”
Asked what Committees he’d want to serve on if elected to the House, Yakym said to him the Committee assignments should be a reflection of the priorities of the member and of the district.
“Jackie was on House Ways & Means. It’s a Committee that you can really influence and drive a lot of good policy through that Committee. So that is a Committee that I would love to have an opportunity to serve on,” Yakym said.
Yakym was tapped by a Republican caucus of nearly 375 precinct committee members Aug. 20 as the Indiana GOP nominee for the November general election in place of Jackie Walorski. Walorski, who was unopposed in the spring primary, and three others were killed in a two-vehicle crash Aug. 3.
A special election to determine who will finish out Walorski’s current term, which extends to the end of the year, also will take place on Nov. 8.
Walorski’s husband, Dean Swihart, endorsed Yakym at the caucus.
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