Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, stopped by The Republic newsroom on Friday morning, answering questions about President Trump’s tariff policy, immigration, potential redistricting in Indiana, the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as his SHIPS for America Act legislation.
Indiana’s senior senator’s visit comes of the heels of Cummins’ second quarter earnings call this week, in which the company reported revenues of $8.6 billion decreasing 2% from the same quarter in 2024. Sales in North America declined 6%, and international revenues increased 5% due to higher demand in Europe and China. “Due to continued economic uncertainty, the company will not be reinstating a full-year outlook for revenue or profitability at this time,” company officials said.
Cummins has generally weathered some of the early adverse impacts of President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again, back-on-again, tariff policy, but that may begin to shift in the third quarter, particularly in the company’s North American truck market, executives and analysts said.
Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon, a Republican, sent a letter to Young, Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and the district’s congressional representative, Jefferson Shreve in April, describing how she believes the uncertainty of the tariffs will enact adverse effects on the region, “which will take years to recover from.”
When asked if Trump’s tariff strategy has been effective, Young said: “it depends on who you talk to.”
“I think most individuals I speak to, even some who support this would say, the way they have been implemented has created a lot of uncertainty in the economy,” Young said. “… We’d all benefit from more certainty.”
Young has been encouraging the president “for months” to pocket what he referred to as “substantial concessions,” reset trade relations, create certainty and move on, the senator said.
“He’s already reset relations with the EU just days ago, Japan. So we’re starting to see exactly what I hoped we would see, I just hope it continues,” he said.
When asked if Congress — who the U.S. Constitution explicitly delegates authority to for imposing import tariffs— should take on more of a forceful leadership role, Young said “yes” and referenced a bill he cosponsored in the Trade Review Act of 2025.
“I cosponsored legislation pretty recently that said when a President AOC or President Bernie Sanders or a President Donald Trump declares an economic emergency, Congress should have to sanction whether or not that actually constitutes an emergency under the law. (The) Speaker of the House (Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana) indicated he wasn’t going to bring that legislation to the floor, so it kind of died. And he was no doubt protecting the president.”
“The short answer is yes, I think Congress needs to continue to protect its prerogatives,” Young continued. “… My job is understanding that the president campaigned on and was highly successful campaigning on a platform of tariffs. Most of my constituents support this. They want me to be supportive of the president. And so I accept that we’re going to have pretty robust tariffs.”
Atterbury and ‘Speedway Slammer’
This week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a partnership with the state of Indiana to use 1,000 beds at the Miami Correctional Facility in north-central Indiana for immigrant detention, dubbing it “The Speedway Slammer,” which garnered some displeasure from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and INDYCAR.
Noem’s deputy Tricia McLaughlin told Fox Business Wednesday the ‘Speedway Slammer’ is expected to be “up and running quickly, just like ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ was.” She went on to say that the agency plans to replicate its deal with Indiana across the country.
This is about a month after a letter from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth named Camp Atterbury as one of two sites available “for temporary use by the Department of Homeland Security to house illegal aliens.”
Young said he and his office “have no knowledge of an authorization to actually go ahead and locate criminal aliens in Atterbury” and that “it is my very strong understanding, informed by back and forth with the administration, that no decision has been made to move forward.”
Use of Miami Correctional Facility has been approved, Young noted, but said “we don’t have a lot of details about how that’s going to work.”
Young was asked if he thinks it’s appropriate to use Camp Atterbury to detain immigrants, and whether due process would be ensured at both.
“I think it’s not a tortured argument to say that having an unchecked flow with millions of unauthorized persons into our country in recent years has created a genuine national security threat,” Young said. “… I agree with the president, that this is a national security issue. I don’t think it’s inappropriate so long as you follow existing statutes.”
Young continued, “I believe in due process. I think the administration does. And I think they need to be committed to continuing to follow due process as it relates to these cases. And I think Congress needs to oversee that.”
Indiana redistricting
Young’s former Senate colleagues Vice President J.D. Vance and Indiana Gov. Mike Braun met in Indianapolis on Thursday, and one of the topics discussed was potential Indiana redistricting.
This is amidst an unfolding situation in Texas where President Trump asked for redistricting, essentially to redraw maps in an effort to gain five currently-Democratic-controlled-seats in the 2026 midterms to ensure Republicans do not lose control of the House in the second half of his term.
State lawmakers redraw districts after each decennial census (every 10 years), according to the Indiana Constitution, and it last happened in 2021. Congressional Republicans in Indiana currently have a 7-2 advantage over their Democratic counterparts.
Braun was asked if any agreement was reached, and the governor said only that “we listened.”
After Young first mentioned he believes it is “rich that a lot of my Democratic colleagues are now piping up about this,” the senator said if these patterns continue “we could be headed for a tit-for-tat situation, kind of a race to the bottom as it relates to redistricting.”
“Even if it’s legal, is this wise? Young said. “And I think that’s where Hoosiers are going to have to decide whether or not this feels right.”
SHIPS for America Act
Young also talked about his SHIPS for America Act, which would establish national oversight and funding for U.S. maritime policy, with the aim of making U.S.-flagged vessels more competitive in international commerce. One goal is to expand the U.S.-flag international fleet by 250 ships in a 10 years.
There are 80 U.S.-flagged vessels in international commerce, which has dropped from thousands since World War II. China has 5,500, something Young and bill co-sponsor Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, deem a looming national security threat.
“I think there’s been a recent realization, especially during the pandemic and post-pandemic, that we need to think about our national resiliency and factor that into our policy making in meaningful ways as it relates to semiconductors, and as it relates to critical minerals and frankly, many other major inputs to our economy,” Young said. “… There’s a similar imperative that requires us to invest in ships. Labor costs are lower overseas, other counties are significantly subsidizing through industrial policy, their own shipbuilding enterprises.”
“We need the capacity to build ships in time of war and to repair ships,” Young said. “We don’t have that capacity right now.”
He said he feels “quite good” about the prospect of its eventual passage.
“I think people are able to intuit a lot more naturally how this relates to national security than frankly semiconductors. So I think we’ve got things lined up for success,” the senator said.
Young hopes for the bill’s passage before the year is out, he said. It follows another industrial policy with bipartisan support Young championed and cosponsored in 2022’s CHIPS and Science Act, which looked to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research.
Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the country was planning to take control of all of Gaza, and his security cabinet Friday approved plans to take control of Gaza City, according to wire reports. Nearly two years about Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, the war is poised only to expand. A third of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are going without food for days at a time, according to the United Nations.
“I think we’re all asking ourselves these questions and throwing up our hands, hopefully not in resignation, but to figure out what the next steps are, how we can affect positive changes,” Young said. “We see this horrific, heart-wrenching situation playing out on the ground. I mean, the most obvious answer to me is the monstrous terrorists actually demonstrate that they care for their people, they release the hostages immediately.”
Young, who said he hasn’t been to the region in “a few years,” plans to visit “in the next couple of months.”