IBJNews

New Indiana members of Congress settle in to roles

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

Indiana's congressional delegation has some new faces — and with them a new, rightward tilt.

Four new Republicans began representing the state in the U.S. House on Wednesday as the 112th Congress began: Reps. Todd Young, Todd Rokita, Marlin Stutzman and Larry Bucshon. They join another newcomer — albeit one with a familiar face — in the U.S. Senate, where former GOP Sen. Dan Coats is taking over the seat vacated by Democrat Evan Bayh.

Like the rest of Congress, Indiana has shifted back toward Republicans after four years of solid Democratic gains. The GOP now holds six of Indiana's nine House seats and both of its Senate seats. In the 111th Congress, Democrats held five House seats and one of the state's Senate seats.

The switch has meant an almost immediate 180-degree shift in rhetoric and priorities for Indiana's congressional delegation, a change that was already obvious on Wednesday.

Take Young, who is representing Indiana's 9th District. He's replacing former Democratic Rep. Baron Hill, who was a strong supporter of President Barack Obama and provided key votes on a number of issues including Obama's signature health care plan.

One of Young's first priorities? "I intend to sign on as a co-sponsor to repeal and replace this health care legislation," Young said in an interview Wednesday.

Along with his new cohorts, Young has spent the last few days in a whirlwind of orientation sessions, learning how Congress works and meeting his new colleagues. He said he is acclimating quickly: "We've graduated from the 'where's the bathroom' stage," he said.

His next step, he said, will be pushing a slew of issues that helped Republicans ride back into power. Besides health care, he wants to work on finding ways to reduce the deficit and creating new jobs in the private sector.

On the other side of the Capitol, newly sworn in Sen. Dan Coats hit similar points.

There's less orientation involved for Coats, who previously served in the Senate from 1989 to 1999. But Coats said there are new colleagues to meet and what he called a "new spirit" in the chamber.

Coats is critical of Obama for what he called poor management of the deficit, and said the health care law has to change. He also lambasted the previous Congress' efforts at job creation.

"We have a chance now with Republicans controlling the House and with more sway in the Senate to effectively present a message," he said.

Rokita, who is taking over for GOP Rep. Stephen Buyer in Indiana's 4th District, agreed. He said the new additions to Indiana's congressional delegation are united by a sense of common purpose.

"We're here on a mission," he said. "This is the starting line not the finish line. So today is not so much a celebration or a time to dwell on the accomplishment of getting elected, it's time to get to work."


ADVERTISEMENT
  • New Congress?
    I have been reading on Politico about the congressmen who are hiring registered lobbyists for their staffs. In Indiana we don't have to worry about that; we have a lobbyist for our new Senator. I'm interested in the rest of the Indiana congressmen and who they hire for advice. I think the lobbyists will control the 112th Congress. The "new spirit" looks a lot like the past; special interest strikes again.
  • GO TODD!
    Now the real work begins, do it well.

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ
  1. something to take iman's mind off CART,,,the league itsownself doesn't do it

  2. Someone mentioned a green roof. Every designer of a new urban building should be required to at least explore the feasibility of a green roof. The ability to cut carbon dioxide, save precious rainwater (drought this summer??) and re-use grey water, cool the building cheaper, and improve the view for neighbors, should be, not only the good neighbor thing to do, it should be the responsible neighbor thing to do. Too bad the city didn't require it when they gave up downtown green space for the Simon Building. Surprised they aren't requiring it now.

  3. About the same means down, like the TV ratings.

    My favorite tradition that needs to be brought back is the 25/8 rule.

  4. Your stats are incorrect. The 85k Government employees working in Marion County includes all government workers in Marion county. That is state, federal, non profit agencies, city and county. The stats the article list is the number of employees for all of the city/county employees and it is correct. That number includes the library, airport, convention center, and so on. The policy of extending benefits to domestic partners is consistent with private sector companies of the same size. Isn't the mantra of most conservatives "run the government like a business."

    Also, too say the "fiscal proposil is huge" without considering the actuarial factors involved is a bit of an overstatement. We really don't know if it is huge or not. If all of the people added to the plan are healthy and don't have claims then it could bring cost done or hold them neutral.

  5. There are 85,346 government employees in Marion county according to Stats Indiana.

    My understanding is that this proposal covers not only same sex partners and children, but opposite same sex partners who are not married and any kids.

    It also covers all city and county employees, plus municipal corporations which use city/county benefits packages including Health and Hospital Corporation (Wishard), Indianapolis Airport Authority, Indianapolis Convention Center,Lucas Oil,Bankers Life, Indianapolis Marion County Library, and Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGo).

    Certainly Indianapolis Public Schools will also want more benefits also.

    The fiscal cost on this proposal is huge.

ADVERTISEMENT