INDIANAPOLIS — In a memo to Republican colleagues Wednesday, Senator-elect Jim Banks of Indiana said he wants the GOP to focus specifically on "everyday working Americans."
"Nobody has suffered more because of bad trade and economic policymaking than America’s working and middle classes. Our policies should focus on doing right by them, especially those working in manufacturing, the trades and other skilled fields that don’t require a four-year degree. Republicans must not take their vote for granted," Banks wrote.
Banks said the party should focus on priorities like building out access to apprenticeships and technical training or expanding Pell grant opportunities to prepare students for the workforce.
His "fight for working families" was one of eight goals mentioned in the two-page memo. Others included tackling border security and illegal immigration, refocusing the Pentagon "on the warfighter," and ending what he called needless bureaucracy.
"The federal government’s administrative bureaucracy has grown beyond the ability of any American to understand, choking the productive economy and creating a two-tiered class system of lawyer-lobbyist-consultants and everyone else," Banks wrote. "Beyond turning back unlawful regulations, we need to get to the root causes of this bureaucratic dysfunction and dismantle it to refocus federal agencies on their missions to serve the public."
Banks, 45, has been a 3rd District U.S. Representative for Indiana since 2017. Before that, he was a member of the Indiana Senate. He has been a strong ally of President-elect Donald Trump and was given a primetime speech during last summer's Republican National Convention.
