MARION — The U.S. Congress is in recess right now, which gives federal officials like Senator Jim Banks time to visit the local communities he represents in Washington, D.C.
Sen. Banks visited Marion Tuesday to speak with local officials at City Hall, including Mayor Ronald Morrell Jr. and Grant County Council President Greg Kitts.
After the closed-door roundtable, Sen. Banks sat down with the Chronicle-Tribune to share what he is working on at the federal level to help Hoosiers.
Sen. Banks became Indiana’s junior Senator in November when he won the seat vacated by Mike Braun, who was chosen in the same election to become Indiana’s 52nd governor.
Before Banks became a senator, he served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives for Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District. Prior to that, Banks was an Indiana State Senator.
Sen. Banks said helping Hoosiers through his work in Washington, D.C., is “the best part of the job.”
Big, Beautiful Bill
“There’s nothing that we’ve done this year that’s more impactful for Hoosiers than the Big, Beautiful Bill, and what it does to extend tax cuts on families, small businesses and farms, and make those tax cuts permanent,” Sen. Banks said. “That’s extending what was already in place, but making it permanent, because it was about to sunset. And if we wouldn’t have passed the Big, Beautiful Bill, it would have been the biggest tax increase on Americans ever. So that’s a big win.”
The “Big, Beautiful Bill” contains many tax and spending policies supported by President Donald Trump. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill mostly along party lines on May 22, with a 215-214-1 vote. The U.S. Senate had a tie 50-50 vote on the bill on July 1, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the deciding “Yea” vote as President of the Senate. The House of Representatives approved an amended version of the bill by 218-214 on July 3.
President Trump signed the Big, Beautiful Bill into law on July 4.
Sen. Banks said the bill does more than make tax cuts permanent from first Trump administration. He said the Big, Beautiful Bill will also remove income taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security.
“That’s a big part of the Big, Beautiful Bill that’s going to help waitresses and factory workers,” Banks said. “I saw my grandma last night. It’s her favorite part of the bill because of the no tax on Social Security.”
“The tax bill is really good for Hoosiers,” Sen. Banks told the Chronicle-Tribune. “That’s what that bill’s all about, putting more money in the pockets of people who need it the most.”
Lowering federal tax bills
According to a review by the New York Times, the Big, Beautiful Bill tax cuts will result in lower federal tax bills of $4.5 trillion over the next decade.
“Those tax cuts aren’t on ultra-wealthy rich people. They’re for working class people, factory workers, teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters,” Sen. Banks said. “Those tax cuts are going to help the people who work the hardest in our communities and give them a leg up. So, I’m very proud of that.”
The Chronicle-Tribune was unable to find data on how many Indiana residents pay federal income tax and how many will experience the federal tax cuts included in the Big, Beautiful Bill.
However, the non-profit Tax Foundation analyzed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data from 2022 and 2025 data to get a nationwide picture of ”Who Pays Federal Income Taxes?”
According to that analysis, the top 1 percent of federal income taxpayers paid a combined $864 billion in 2022, compared to a combined $599 billion in federal income taxes paid by the bottom 90 percent of taxpayers.
“The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI of $663,164 and above) paid the highest average income tax rate of 26.1 percent – seven times the rate faced by the bottom half of taxpayers,” the Tax Foundation report stated. “The share of income taxes paid by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers fell from 4.9 percent in 2001 to 3 percent in 2022.”
SNAP and Medicaid
According to STATS Indiana and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, in 2023, one in five people in Grant County lived at or below the poverty line, including one in four children under 18.
The New York Times review found that the Big, Beautiful Bill will cut Medicaid spending by 12 percent, as well as expand work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and shift some food assistance costs to the state level.
Sen. Banks said the work requirements on Medicaid benefits will save the federal government “hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“You shouldn’t be on Medicaid if you can work, but you stay home and you don’t work,” Sen. Banks said. “If you don’t have a sick kid or a sick parent that you’re taken care of and you’re able bodied and you can work, you shouldn’t be on Medicaid. Medicaid should be for the people who need it, and who needed the most.”
“That is a provision in the bill that I think is really significant, those work requirements on Medicaid that will save the program for people who need it the most,” he said. “I’m especially proud of that component, too.”
Tariffs
Sen. Banks said President Trump’s tariffs on foreign-made goods “are bringing back the Made-in-America economy.” He said this is especially important for Indiana, which is the top manufacturing state in the U.S., per capita.
“We’re benefiting from President Trump’s tariffs more than any state in the nation because the automobile industry, which is important to Marion and Grant County,” Sen. Banks said.
Banks is from Columbia City, which depends heavily on the steel industry.
“We’re the number one steel-producing state in the country, and these tariffs are directed at those types of jobs,” he said. “More good jobs like that are coming to Indiana because of the tariffs and the tax cuts. So that’s a big part of what we’ve been focused on and supporting President Trump in a lot of other ways, but Hoosiers are going to benefit from that.”
USDA and VA
Sen. Banks said the Trump administration is also helping Indiana residents by cutting federal bureaucracy and moving government services out of Washington, D.C.
One example he cited was the recent announcement that a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hub will soon be coming to Indianapolis.
“I mean, that’s a big deal, and I was glad to be a part of that and support that effort,” he said.
Banks, a Navy veteran, serves on the Senate Veterans Committee.
“Serving our veteran population stays a top priority,” he said. “The Veterans Hospital here in Marion is so important to our state. We’re working to replace the massive Roudebush hospital in Indianapolis and update a lot of our facilities so we can serve our veterans better, and then provide greater community care for our veterans, which President Trump is doing, and we’re expanding all of that.”
Sen. Banks said veterans will be able to choose if a Veterans Affairs (VA) facility is best for them or if there is a better local hospital that can provide their medical needs.
“They can choose which the choice is best for them, especially in rural communities around the state,” Banks said.
Farm Bill
In 2018, then-Representative Banks supported the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill supported farmers, ranchers and forest managers, as well as shaped agricultural and food policies.
The Farm Bill expires Sept. 30.
“Extending that safety net for farmers in Indiana is really important. Crop insurance is a major part of it,” Sen. Banks said. “We will get done. We will pass it. We will get it done.”
Sen. Banks did not agree with the version of the Farm Bill under Former President Joe Biden.
“The bill was filled with DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs and kind of very ‘woke’ and ‘woke’ provisions and wacky environmental provisions,” Banks said. “The Farm Bill should be about supporting American agriculture and farms and providing that support.”
“We did extend some of the Farm Bill programs in the Big, Beautiful Bill, but passing the full Farm Bill by the end of the year is a top priority for President Trump and Republicans in Congress,” he said.