By David Slone
Times-Union
NORTH WEBSTER — President Donald Trump was heavily lauded by the speakers at the Kosciusko County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner Thursday night.
Second District U.S. Congressman Rudy Yakym said, “It’s been only a few weeks since House Republicans passed our one Big Beautiful Bill, and let me tell you, this is, as President Trump calls, a beautiful bill. This is something that will deliver on the president’s priorities. It is the most pro-growth, pro-worker, pro-family, pro-business, pro-American bill in a generation. This one is a game changer. It’s a game changer because it rolls back red tape, rolls back disastrous regulations. It secures our border. It restores American energy dominance and it ends, permanently, once and for all, Joe Biden’s Green New Deal.”
He said the bill draws a line in the sand that says America is back.
“We promised to put America first, and that’s exactly what we’ve done in this bill. We’ve done things like deliver tax relief for working families,” Yakym said. “At the end of this year – you all may not know this – but the Trump tax cuts expire. And you’re expected to get a tax increase for an average family of four in the Hoosier state of $1,800 per family.”
He said he believes in restoring fiscal responsibility to Washington.
“We have got to balance our federal budget. We’ve got $37 trillion in debt. There’s two ways we can do this. The first question you’ve got to ask is, do we believe you all pay enough in taxes?” he asked, then asked for a show of hands of who in the room at The Owl’s Nest pay taxes, and everyone raised their hands. He then asked how many in the room believe they should pay more taxes, but no one raised their hands. “There’s no one in Kosciusko County who believes they should pay more taxes. … I share that belief. What I believe we should do is we should cut federal spending.”
The most federal spending has ever been cut in one bill was $400 billion, Yakym stated. “This bill cuts federal spending by $1.6 trillion. Four times more than it’s ever been cut before.”
He said Trump reran for president on securing the southern border.
“When President Trump came and delivered his joint address in the House earlier this year, he said, and I quote, ‘Turns out, we didn’t need new laws, we needed a new president.’ The president was right, because, guess what?” Yakym continued. “If you look at what’s happening at the southern border right now, there are no illegal border crossings.”
Yakym said he had lunch with Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, a few weeks ago. Homan told him under Biden there were 30,000 border crossings a month. Last month, Homan said there were only 27 and that was 27 too many.
“But the problem is, and Tom Homan articulated this, that we have secured the southern border because we know that Joe Biden created this crisis with the stroke of a pen. Donald Trump has fixed this with the stroke of a pen. But we’ve got to secure the southern border permanently and we have to get the president of the United States the resources that he needs to deport the illegal criminal immigrants who are here,” Yakym said.
Homan asked Yakym how much money was available in the bill for border security, for deportations and to permanently secure the border. When Yakym told Homan there was $170 billion in the bill for that, Homan replied, “That will do it. That will do the job.”
Yakym said the bill is “everything that the American people have been demanding, and it’s everything that the Left has long feared and been afraid of.” However, he said, it would have never happened without the leadership of President Trump.
Third District U.S. Congressman Marlin Stutzman said people often ask him what’s different now than when he served as the Third District representative from 2010-17.
“One word: Trump. I was there during the Obama years and it stunk. It was different. Todd (Rokita) and I were there during the Obama years and it was very, very different,” Stutzman said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get to accomplish a lot because we didn’t have a leader in the White House compared to what we have now. It’s night and day, and I’m really honored to be able to serve this part of the country, this part of the state in Washington, D.C.”
He said Republicans have such a narrow window to get things fixed. When he was first elected to Congress in 2010, the national debt was $9 trillion.
“If we would have passed the Paul Ryan plan – the Path to Prosperity is what we titled it – if we would have passed it then, 10 years later it would be a very different story. But we didn’t have a partner that wanted to do anything in the White House,” Stutzman said.
“When I left at the end of 2016, the debt had accumulated to $18 trillion and today it’s $37 trillion. So it’s double almost twice since my time in office, and it’s just because we don’t have leadership in Washington that we’re so used to in Indiana and it makes such a big difference.”
Stutzman called Trump the “best brander, the best negotiator, the best diplomat I believe our country has had since President Reagan.”
U.S. Senators Todd Young and Jim Banks were not there in person, but sent videos.
Young said, in part, “As Hoosier Republicans come together for our annual Lincoln Day Dinners, it’s an opportunity to reflect on our recent Republican successes, and there were many. From President Trump’s strong start this year, working with the Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate, too; the leadership of our new governor, Mike Braun, working with Republican state lawmakers; the spirit in both our nation and state is filled with excitement about what we can accomplish for our prosperity and security.”
In his minute-long comments, Banks said, “In just the first six minutes on the job, we’ve done so much to confirm President Trump’s Cabinet and to stand with President Trump in so many ways to make this country great again. We have to pass this Big Beautiful Bill to ensure we cut taxes, fund the border wall, border security, the mass deportations, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and do what we have to do to make our military strong and mighty again to keep up with the Chinese.”
Keynote speaker and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita talked about a number of issues briefly in about 12 minutes, from supporting Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales, to winning cases against transgender people and him suing the sheriffs of St. Joe and Monroe counties. Toward the end, he said he stood with Trump.
Indiana Republican Chair Lana Keesling presented Avis Gunter with a State Chairman’s Award for her outstanding service to the Republican Party.
“We don’t do this in every county. We only do this – I’ve not done this probably in five weeks – so, we give it to deserving people who give their service, they’re committed and they provide leadership in the county. And they give their time and talent. And so they give selflessly. And we are here tonight to honor somebody that has been a volunteer for the party for many years, and has helped at headquarters for a very long time, and she’s a former county assessor, former county commissioner and I would like to recognize this evening, Avis Gunter,” Keesling said in presenting the award.
After the presenting, Keesling talked about Indiana’s delegates and Trump who are advancing the America first agenda. It’s a clear win for Hoosier families and small businesses around the state, she said.
“On the economy, Trump is bringing manufacturing jobs back, cutting red tape and lowering taxes,” she said. She also said he’s lowering energy costs, securing the southern border and deporting illegal immigrants. On foreign aid, she said Trump is ending blank checks and putting American taxpayers first, while cutting costs and building on the reforms Mike Braun led in the Senate and now as Indiana’s governor.
