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Editor’s note: This issue of Forefront went to press on Monday morning as members of Congress considered a deal to end the shutdown.
The working poor and families with children, elderly parents and members with disabilities rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. They suffer immediate harm if they fail to pay their rent, utilities or car payment. SNAP allows them the “luxury” of meeting those obligations at the cost of making them dependent on federal dollars simply to eat. Often, they supplement these funds with help from food banks.
This is obviously a precarious situation causing our people to delicately balance their limited funds. The national government has thrown a wrench into the lives of and health of hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers during the federal shutdown. Sadly, Indiana has so far failed to step up to the resultant challenges despite a clear ability to do so.
Gov. Mike Braun and the Republican supermajority in the Indiana Legislature have preferred to spend their time and energy on a delicate dance about gerrymandering and a so-called “special session” at the whim of the White House. They’re utterly silent about the harm facing hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers who are heavily concentrated in our rural areas as well as in our cities. They are willing to ignore our people no matter where they are located.
My Republican colleagues have repeatedly warned that without their necessary gerrymandering, Hoosiers will face an uphill battle to be heard in Washington. And yet here we sit and watch as our neighbors begin to go without meals, without warm beds and without stability for themselves and their families. These are the true dangers we face as a state and as a country. Despite holding every advantage at the state and federal level, they have placed millions at risk for political gain and theater.
The Braun administration simply has no shame on this issue. The State Budget Committee voted to deny a request simply urging Gov. Braun to seek a solution for the crisis from our state reserves. I have been present for hundreds of votes in the Legislature and at the State Budget Committee. This was simply the most shameful vote I have seen. We spent far more time in the most recent meeting of that committee dealing with the possibility of creating yet another casino than we did on considering how to feed our residents. This is how low we have sunk.
The same Legislature and budget committee have moved to send school tuition money to those who need it least and to cut back on public health for the poor and preschool funding for those trying to build a family.
Indiana’s vaunted surplus apparently is a jewel to be gazed at, never an asset that could be put to actual use to help anyone. Maybe I can appeal to their more obvious financial motives. Have they noticed that our farmers receive revenue from providing food to their fellow Americans? Have they looked at the revenue Walmart, Kroger, Meijer and others get from food stamps? Do they appreciate the charitable acts of Hoosiers who support food banks, reducing the pressure on the food stamp program?
I am moved to call out to our township trustees who have tens of millions of dollars in reserves. They must do what Braun will not do and reach into their pockets. They have the authority to do so. I have long been critical of them, but they have been given an opportunity to prove that they do have a real function in an emergency. If their reserves shrink to a danger point due to helping in this crisis, maybe the governor and the supermajority would agree to replenish the reserves in whole or part. Maybe they could pay attention to the physical needs of our people.
What is the value of being in the majority if you are not even capable of noticing what has happened to your people—let alone leading them in a direction that will improve their lives?•
DeLaney, an Indianapolis attorney, is a Democrat representing the 86th District in the Indiana House of Representatives. Send comments to [email protected].
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