Congressmen Banks, Yakym Speak On Issues Facing America
May 7, 2023 at 7:20 p.m.
Congressmen Banks, Yakym Speak On Issues Facing America
By David [email protected]
Banks, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mike Braun as Braun runs for Indiana governor, was the keynote speaker Saturday at the Kosciusko County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner. He spoke after remarks by Second District Congressman Rudy Yakym III.
“What Rudy and I see in Washington, D.C., today on the other side of the aisle are people who can’t even mouth the words that America is the greatest country in the history of the world,” Banks said. “We serve with Democrats - I almost want to dare them to say it. Just say it. They won’t say it because Democrats today don’t believe that America is the greatest country in the history of the world.”
He said the U.S. has gone from a country that believed inherently in equal opportunities for every boy and girl to a Democrat party - “a party in power today that believes in equal outcomes, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is socialism. That is their agenda. It is to destroy America and turn it into a socialist country.”
Having served seven years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Banks said he has fought hard against what the Democrats are trying to do to destroy America.
“When you send me to the United States Senate, I’m going to wake up every day and do the same thing to fight for (America),” he said to loud applause.
Before deciding to run for the Senate, Banks said he and his wife prayed about it for days.
“I’m here standing before you tonight because I’m sick and tired of go-along-to-get-along Republicans that roll over and don’t fight back, and that’s never going to be me,” he said.
Indiana is a conservative state that deserves conservatives fighting for it in the U.S. Senate, Banks stated, adding that he has the track record to do that.
The biggest threat today is the Chinese Communist Party that wants to put America under its thumb, he said.
“(President) Joe Biden is full of more hot air than that spy balloon he let fly across the country,” he said.
The country went from the one president (Donald Trump) in his lifetime who took on China as a threat to America to Biden, who bends over every single day and lets China run right over the United States, Banks stated.
“When you send me to the Senate, I’m going to spend every waking day looking for ways to hold China accountable. That’s what I did in the House, that’s what I’m going to do in the Senate.”
Last month, Banks said, he introduced the first bill ever in Congress to sanction China for giving America fentanyl, the leading cause of death for Americans his age. He also said he was the first member of Congress to introduce a bill in the House several years ago to hold China accountable and sanction them for giving the U.S. Covid.
“They’ve stolen our jobs. They wrecked our economy. They gave us a pandemic. Now they’re flooding this country with fentanyl every day,” Banks said, noting that over 100,000 Americans have died of fentanyl poisoning since Biden became president because he opened the border.
Trump, Banks stated, “secured the border, built the wall,” while Biden from Day One “opened the border wide open and with it flooded this country with poison that’s poisoning our young men and women, and it’s time to stop it.”
A couple months ago, Banks said he introduced a bill to take all the unspent Covid money and use it to build a wall to secure the border.
“That is my top priority,” he said.
As a Republican, Banks said “Made in America” is always better than “Made in China.”
“If I learned anything from President Trump, it’s just that. Restoring America means restoring America’s manufacturing base in this country, bringing jobs back to the United States of America, right here in northeast Indiana,” he said.
Good-paying jobs for hard-working men and women belong in America, not abroad, he continued. “We need Republicans who don’t back down to the wishes of Wall Street and do everything they can to protect those jobs in the United States of America. And that’s the type of Republican you’re going to get with me in the United States Senate.”
With all the money that’s been sent to Ukraine, Banks said five border walls could have been built.
“I’m pro-Ukraine. I’ve been sanctioned by Russia. Amanda and I are never allowed to spend that dream vacation in Moscow. But no more blank checks for Ukraine until we secure our own border in the United States of America,” he said.
Along with those threats from abroad, Banks said he believes the biggest threat at home “is the radical left is trying to destroy this country through their woke agenda.”
He talked about founding the first-ever anti-woke caucus in January, making himself the chairman, to cut the head off the snake that is wokeism. He called wokeism “a cancer that will kill this country from inside out. The radical left teaching our kids to hate America rather than to love America, to recognize that America is truly the greatest source of good ever in the history of this world.”
Talking about balancing the budget, Banks said his caucus wants to defund wokeism.
“What am I talking about? $200 million at the State Department for the gender equity and equality action fund. How about we defund that? $8.5 million for gender advisory programs at the Pentagon. When I’m in the Senate, I’m going to strip that out. Our Pentagon, our Department of Defense, our military should show strength, not weakness. I can’t think of anything that’s more weaker than that. $34 million for the Diversity Office at the Department of Energy. What the heck is that for? Here is one of my biggest head scratchers: The Biden administration is funding exclusive housing for transgender illegal immigrants where the staff has to have hormone therapy experience or LGBTQI sensitivity training before they can work in these facilities. How about we defund that?” Banks said.
In closing, he said he needed their help in running for the U.S. Senate, which is a big and expensive undertaking.
“Go to BanksforSenate.com and get involved. You can help us by giving a small donation or a bigger one if you can. Even more important than that, here in the next couple weeks, we’ll be kicking off the petition drive to get the signatures that it takes to get my name on the ballot to be your next U.S. senator,” Banks said.
In his comments, Yakym said Kosciusko County is still “the most conservative, most Republican county in all of Indiana.” He thanked the county for supporting him in the November election. He said he served about six weeks in the minority party in the House, and now about four months in the majority, and they’re “wildly different worlds.”
Yakym said they are now able to get fundamentally good, conservative policy through the House. They’ve also made some small conservative changes, including stopping CNN from being played in the Capitol building and reopening the people’s House.
“You no longer have to have an appointment to come to your Capitol building,” he said.
Proxy voting also has been ended.
“We have made the legislative process far more transparent. Gone are the days where you could - as Nancy Pelosi use to say - pass the bill and find out what’s in it. We now require a 72-hour rule where you have to have a bill finalized 72 hours before it comes up to a vote, so we can actually take time to read it. That’s just Hoosier commonsense,” Yakym said.
He stated they “banned” Biden’s “Army of 87,000 IRS agents.”
“We stood up for the cause of life. We passed the Born Alive Act, which says if a child survives an abortion, you can not kill the child on the table. You have to give the child medical treatment,” he said.
They also ended Biden’s forced vaccination for healthcare workers and military and reining in “radical” regulators in the Biden EPA.
“We passed a package that unleashes American energy,” he said.
In one of the first votes the Republican-majority House took during the first week, Yakym said they established a select committee on the Chinese Community Party. He said, before the Chinese balloon floated across the country, 140 Democrats joined the Republican-led bill in the vote to establish the committee.
“Because we know that China is one of the single-biggest threats we face in the 21st century. And my belief is that President Biden is not up to the task of managing the threat from China. And if we are not careful, we will have a 21st century that is dominated by China, as opposed to one that is led by America. And that is why we’re taking this threat seriously,” Yakym said.
The other existential threat facing the U.S., along with China, is the national debt, he stated. The current national debt ceiling stands at $31.4 trillion.
Also on hand at the dinner Saturday were two candidates for Indiana governor - Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Eric Doden - along with five candidates for the Third District to replace Banks if he is elected to the U.S. Senate - Marlin Stutzman, Wendy Davis, Jon Kenworthy, Andy Zay and Mike Felker.
Banks, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mike Braun as Braun runs for Indiana governor, was the keynote speaker Saturday at the Kosciusko County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner. He spoke after remarks by Second District Congressman Rudy Yakym III.
“What Rudy and I see in Washington, D.C., today on the other side of the aisle are people who can’t even mouth the words that America is the greatest country in the history of the world,” Banks said. “We serve with Democrats - I almost want to dare them to say it. Just say it. They won’t say it because Democrats today don’t believe that America is the greatest country in the history of the world.”
He said the U.S. has gone from a country that believed inherently in equal opportunities for every boy and girl to a Democrat party - “a party in power today that believes in equal outcomes, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is socialism. That is their agenda. It is to destroy America and turn it into a socialist country.”
Having served seven years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Banks said he has fought hard against what the Democrats are trying to do to destroy America.
“When you send me to the United States Senate, I’m going to wake up every day and do the same thing to fight for (America),” he said to loud applause.
Before deciding to run for the Senate, Banks said he and his wife prayed about it for days.
“I’m here standing before you tonight because I’m sick and tired of go-along-to-get-along Republicans that roll over and don’t fight back, and that’s never going to be me,” he said.
Indiana is a conservative state that deserves conservatives fighting for it in the U.S. Senate, Banks stated, adding that he has the track record to do that.
The biggest threat today is the Chinese Communist Party that wants to put America under its thumb, he said.
“(President) Joe Biden is full of more hot air than that spy balloon he let fly across the country,” he said.
The country went from the one president (Donald Trump) in his lifetime who took on China as a threat to America to Biden, who bends over every single day and lets China run right over the United States, Banks stated.
“When you send me to the Senate, I’m going to spend every waking day looking for ways to hold China accountable. That’s what I did in the House, that’s what I’m going to do in the Senate.”
Last month, Banks said, he introduced the first bill ever in Congress to sanction China for giving America fentanyl, the leading cause of death for Americans his age. He also said he was the first member of Congress to introduce a bill in the House several years ago to hold China accountable and sanction them for giving the U.S. Covid.
“They’ve stolen our jobs. They wrecked our economy. They gave us a pandemic. Now they’re flooding this country with fentanyl every day,” Banks said, noting that over 100,000 Americans have died of fentanyl poisoning since Biden became president because he opened the border.
Trump, Banks stated, “secured the border, built the wall,” while Biden from Day One “opened the border wide open and with it flooded this country with poison that’s poisoning our young men and women, and it’s time to stop it.”
A couple months ago, Banks said he introduced a bill to take all the unspent Covid money and use it to build a wall to secure the border.
“That is my top priority,” he said.
As a Republican, Banks said “Made in America” is always better than “Made in China.”
“If I learned anything from President Trump, it’s just that. Restoring America means restoring America’s manufacturing base in this country, bringing jobs back to the United States of America, right here in northeast Indiana,” he said.
Good-paying jobs for hard-working men and women belong in America, not abroad, he continued. “We need Republicans who don’t back down to the wishes of Wall Street and do everything they can to protect those jobs in the United States of America. And that’s the type of Republican you’re going to get with me in the United States Senate.”
With all the money that’s been sent to Ukraine, Banks said five border walls could have been built.
“I’m pro-Ukraine. I’ve been sanctioned by Russia. Amanda and I are never allowed to spend that dream vacation in Moscow. But no more blank checks for Ukraine until we secure our own border in the United States of America,” he said.
Along with those threats from abroad, Banks said he believes the biggest threat at home “is the radical left is trying to destroy this country through their woke agenda.”
He talked about founding the first-ever anti-woke caucus in January, making himself the chairman, to cut the head off the snake that is wokeism. He called wokeism “a cancer that will kill this country from inside out. The radical left teaching our kids to hate America rather than to love America, to recognize that America is truly the greatest source of good ever in the history of this world.”
Talking about balancing the budget, Banks said his caucus wants to defund wokeism.
“What am I talking about? $200 million at the State Department for the gender equity and equality action fund. How about we defund that? $8.5 million for gender advisory programs at the Pentagon. When I’m in the Senate, I’m going to strip that out. Our Pentagon, our Department of Defense, our military should show strength, not weakness. I can’t think of anything that’s more weaker than that. $34 million for the Diversity Office at the Department of Energy. What the heck is that for? Here is one of my biggest head scratchers: The Biden administration is funding exclusive housing for transgender illegal immigrants where the staff has to have hormone therapy experience or LGBTQI sensitivity training before they can work in these facilities. How about we defund that?” Banks said.
In closing, he said he needed their help in running for the U.S. Senate, which is a big and expensive undertaking.
“Go to BanksforSenate.com and get involved. You can help us by giving a small donation or a bigger one if you can. Even more important than that, here in the next couple weeks, we’ll be kicking off the petition drive to get the signatures that it takes to get my name on the ballot to be your next U.S. senator,” Banks said.
In his comments, Yakym said Kosciusko County is still “the most conservative, most Republican county in all of Indiana.” He thanked the county for supporting him in the November election. He said he served about six weeks in the minority party in the House, and now about four months in the majority, and they’re “wildly different worlds.”
Yakym said they are now able to get fundamentally good, conservative policy through the House. They’ve also made some small conservative changes, including stopping CNN from being played in the Capitol building and reopening the people’s House.
“You no longer have to have an appointment to come to your Capitol building,” he said.
Proxy voting also has been ended.
“We have made the legislative process far more transparent. Gone are the days where you could - as Nancy Pelosi use to say - pass the bill and find out what’s in it. We now require a 72-hour rule where you have to have a bill finalized 72 hours before it comes up to a vote, so we can actually take time to read it. That’s just Hoosier commonsense,” Yakym said.
He stated they “banned” Biden’s “Army of 87,000 IRS agents.”
“We stood up for the cause of life. We passed the Born Alive Act, which says if a child survives an abortion, you can not kill the child on the table. You have to give the child medical treatment,” he said.
They also ended Biden’s forced vaccination for healthcare workers and military and reining in “radical” regulators in the Biden EPA.
“We passed a package that unleashes American energy,” he said.
In one of the first votes the Republican-majority House took during the first week, Yakym said they established a select committee on the Chinese Community Party. He said, before the Chinese balloon floated across the country, 140 Democrats joined the Republican-led bill in the vote to establish the committee.
“Because we know that China is one of the single-biggest threats we face in the 21st century. And my belief is that President Biden is not up to the task of managing the threat from China. And if we are not careful, we will have a 21st century that is dominated by China, as opposed to one that is led by America. And that is why we’re taking this threat seriously,” Yakym said.
The other existential threat facing the U.S., along with China, is the national debt, he stated. The current national debt ceiling stands at $31.4 trillion.
Also on hand at the dinner Saturday were two candidates for Indiana governor - Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Eric Doden - along with five candidates for the Third District to replace Banks if he is elected to the U.S. Senate - Marlin Stutzman, Wendy Davis, Jon Kenworthy, Andy Zay and Mike Felker.
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