December 23, 2018 Comments 0 Gary Snyder

Indiana Democratic Party 12-22-18 Weekly Radio Address Podcast

Chairman John Zody and the 12-22-18 Indiana Democratic Party Weekly Radio Address Podcast:

TRANSCRIPT:

This is Chairman John Zody, bringing you the weekly podcast for the Indiana Democratic Party.

Earlier this week, we heard the revenue forecast for the next state budget cycle here in Indiana. It’s important that we pay close attention to where our taxpayer dollars are going and transparency in the budget is just the tip of the iceberg in areas where we should be looking.

Governor Holcomb and other Statehouse Republicans say we can’t fund an expansion of preschool or substantial teacher pay raises, but there’s $90M for trails and revenue to support another round of tax cuts for special interests.It’s hard to imagine Hoosier families will have time to enjoy Holcomb’s trails if they’re working two jobs to put their kids through preschool and pay the bills because wages in Indiana aren’t keeping pace with the rest of the country.

How did we get here? Let’s talk about the facts.

• Fact: Republicans have cut taxes for special interests by hundreds of millions of dollars while raising 45 taxes and fees on working Hoosiers.

• Fact: Governor Holcomb identified $1 billion in funding from the Toll Road, including $90 million for trails.

• Fact: Anything less than about $150M/yr in new education funding means Republicans are cutting relative funding for schools.

• Fact: Republicans kicked the can on adequately funding the Indiana Dept. of Child Services for years, when an ounce of prevention would have made a significant difference. Now, Hoosier taxpayers are paying more for GOP mismanagement.

The bottom line is that budgets are about priorities and Gov. Holcomb and Republicans just don’t seem to think teachers have earned a pay raise or children deserve equal access to preschool.

Hoosier Democrats are fighting for a number of issues in this legislative session, from protecting pre-existing conditions under the Affordable Care Act to putting forward legislation to lift the minimum wage. Our priorities have always been for Hoosier families. When we put them first, good things happen in our community and for our state.

In 2019, we will continue building the bench of strong Democratic leaders to fight for our values. We’ll need your help very soon as we prepare for the Primary election in May. Go to Indems.org/join to keep up with opportunities to get involved. And please sure to be watching when the next session of the Indiana General Assembly kicks off on January 3 – check your local papers to see when your legislators might be doing “Third House” town hall forums so that you can share your input as a Hoosier voter and taxpayer.

Also, please follow the IDP on Facebook and Twitter. Simply search INDems – that’s I-N-D-E-M-S on Facebook and Twitter, and follow us to get the latest news about our candidates and what we’re doing to hold our counterparts at the Statehouse and in Washington accountable. Thank you for listening and happy holidays.