Senator-elect builds on 2021 memo with new working class plan
U.S. Sen.-elect Jim Banks (R) releases a two-page “Policy Vision for the 119th Congress” that he titles “Working Families First.” The memo not only outlines his objectives to Hoosier voters, but it serves as an agenda of sorts for his new Senate colleagues . . . building upon his 2021 memo to House Republican leadership on the Republican Party being the new party for the working class.
That memo quickly attracted a national audience that ultimately reached into the Oval Office. Democrats and pundits who dismissed it out of hand before the 2022 election cycle were reaching for and re-reading it after the 2024 election to gain a better understanding of what they missed heading into the year.
“In 2021 I wrote a memo calling on Republican leaders to accept the gift that Donald Trump gave us and cement the GOP as the party of the working class. Now I’m offering a blueprint to do that,” notes the senator-elect in releasing the document Wednesday. “In the Senate, I plan to build our 2024 coalition by working with President Trump to enact a policy agenda that puts American industry, American citizens and American families first,” he adds.
Axios highlights the new Banks manifesto this week, introducing its elite audience to Rep. Banks as “a rising conservative star who’ll have a big voice in next year’s Republican-controlled Washington.”
Sen.-elect Banks himself offers an introduction to the memo telling colleagues that “Last month’s election gave the GOP a clear mandate: come January, congressional Republicans must develop, pass, and enact a legislative agenda that places working Americans and their families squarely at its center. Working hand in hand with President Trump, we will build an economy that creates opportunity for hardworking Americans, reject wokeness and anti-Americanism at every level of our society, and rebuild our defense-industrial base and refocus our military on winning wars.”
The Banks agenda focuses upon eight key initiatives.
(1) Fight for Working Families
Banks argues that “Nobody has suffered more because of bad trade and economic policymaking than America’s working and middle classes,” and 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.” He says that “Republicans must not take their vote for granted,” and vows not to support policies “that fail to center working American families and their interests.” He wants the GOP to prioritize concerns such as “building out access to apprenticeships and technical training or expanding Pell grant opportunities to prepare for the workforce.”
(2) Strengthen American Industry
He believes legislators should renew a commitment to “American manufacturing and our defense-industrial base,” given that being able to make things is essential to protecting our national security, ensuring production capacity in both times of peace and war, while creating good jobs”. Republicans owe the American people a detailed strategy to incentivize domestic investment – especially in advanced manufacturing and other highly productive industries –and elevate the industrial base to the top tier of our national defense strategy. Rep. Banks calls for restoring our capacity to manufacture ships, munitions, and other materiel domestically. By “boosting innovation and supporting sectors with high-growth potential,” he expects that “we will secure America’s position at the forefront of global manufacturing.”
(3) Refocus the Pentagon on the Warfighter
He expresses concern that “federal policymakers” have allowed “the defense-industrial base to wither” at the same time as “the Department of Defense prioritized trendy progressive politics over the lethality and wellbeing of American service-members. Over the last four years, our top military brass has been more focused on DEI than it has recruitment, leaving us understaffed and unprepared to counter adversaries like China and Iran. We need to immediately remove divisive, leftwing politics from the Pentagon and refocus on merit, so we can return to identifying and rewarding excellence across the U.S. Armed Forces.”
(4) Restore Traditional Values and Stop Wokeness
“Wokeness is a poison that has infiltrated America’s largest corporations, universities, Hollywood, and beyond,” Rep. Banks declares. He points to “last year when far-left radicals took over campus buildings nationwide to intimidate Jewish classmates and cheer on Hamas. We have seen cowardly scientists suppress studies showing the damage wrought by hormone blockers on children and partisan prosecutors dish out draconian prison sentences to peaceful, pro-life protesters. And we have been enraged as Antifa rioters knock down memorials to America’s Founding Fathers, veterans, and other heroes in protest after protest. Back in power, the Republican Party will confront all this cultural rot head-on. We will stand up for traditional values, the sanctity of life, free speech, and pride in our history,” he assures.
(5) Put an End to the Border Crisis
“A secure border means a secure America,” Rep. Banks asserts. “Republicans must end the tide of illegal immigration and nonstop abuses of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) system, which the Biden-Harris administration has used to send thousands of migrants to small towns across America.” He believes that “Republicans must make clear that we understand a strong, fair immigration policy is foundational to our prosperity and to the integrity of our nation.”
(6) Defend American Workers From China
China’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization “has been a catastrophe to America’s working class,” finds Rep. Banks. Since then, he points out, “our manufacturing output has plummeted, with the nation shedding about 3 million jobs across the sector. Today, Beijing continues to exploit our openness, stealing our intellectual property and engaging in export dumping and other unfair trade practices that undercut American workers. Even worse, the Chinese Communist Party is actively poisoning hundreds of thousands of working-age Americans by exporting deadly fentanyl precursors to the Mexican cartels.” He proclaims that “Republicans must bring this to an end. We must build on President Trump’s leadership on tariffs and trade remedies, take bold steps to protect our industries from predatory practices, strengthen U.S. manufacturing, and expand the export of American-made goods and commodities. We will level the playing field, giving our workers and businesses a fair shot to succeed.”
(7) Unleash U.S. Building Power
America is a frontier nation, Rep. Banks observes, and “shouldn’t be held back by red tape that restrains our ability to build new roads, bridges, or other vital infrastructure. Smart regulatory reforms should be aimed at allowing us to make full use of our abundant natural resources and reforming our expensive and needlessly drawn-out federal permitting process. Republicans should prioritize slashing regulations so we can lower housing costs, create jobs, spur private investment, and ensure American communities can thrive.”
(8) Dismantle Needless Bureaucracy
The “administrative bureaucracy” has expanded “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,” as the senator-elect sees it, and this bureaucracy requires more staffers to “perpetuate failed programs rather than providing services to Americans. Republicans must recognize that not only is the administrative state dehumanizing and unfair, but it has reached a tipping point of unsustainable complexity that risks collapse. In too many industries, government contractors are an extension of this administrative bureaucracy, operating with a thin veneer of supervision and no accountability,” he notes in an observation that may not be shared by all of his new colleagues. “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,” he concludes.
So will the Banks memo have any substantial impact? Bear in mind that there are at least four audiences at play here.
The first is Hoosiers for whom he lays out his plans for the next few years, a yardstick against which voters can measure his performance against promises.
He also is directing his thoughts toward his new Senate colleagues. Unlike his first memo, this one is aimed at not earning a majority in the chamber, but using the power of a new majority to advocate and advance an agenda that he believes is consonant with public sentiment, and will perpetuate the new majority. He comes in with enough political chops from his experience running the House GOP conference; street cred with the new president; a growing Fox News audience that has now expanded to CNN appearances; and admiration from his more conservative colleagues about bigfooting the more moderate former Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) from the primary race so that enough of the caucus may just pay attention.
His third audience is the media, pundit, and think tank crowd, who will now see him as a thought leader at least among the incoming class, if not the Senate more broadly, and will reach out to him for comment and more prestigious speaking engagements – exposure that will further increase his reach and influence.
The final audience is political, Republican officials who will start the buzz about him as a national candidate (a 2028 vice presential pick, perhaps, or for president beyond that), or for governor of Indiana and further seasoning in 2032 or later, now that the man whom he succeeds has opened a first time path from the Senate back to the State House. His new platform is, at its heart as political as it is policy-oriented, and there are many Inside the Beltway who will be watching to see if this latest memo is as potentially sagacious and practical as his initial foray into the field.