Indiana Rep. Jim Banks on His Decision to Run for Senate

CLAY: We are joined now by Representative Jim Banks, congressman from Indiana’s third Congressional District, just announced that he is a Senate candidate. Jim, appreciate you giving us the time here. I know you’ve been a high-ranking member of the Republicans in the House for a decent amount of time now. What was it for you that making the decision to run for the Senate was right for you and your family in the state of Indiana?

REP. BANKS: Yeah, Well, good to be with you. You know, I’ve served in the House. I just started my fourth term. I’ve been the chairman of the largest conservative caucus. I’ve been on the front lines of fighting for the America First agenda over the last six years. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been so frustrated while we’re fighting the fight in the House. I look over at the Senate; I don’t see enough of a fight.

And as Mike Braun, our current senator, announced he’s running for governor of Indiana, it opened up the Senate seat. My wife and I prayed about it, talked to our friends and our family about it. We just feel like Indiana is a conservative state. Indiana deserves a conservative fighter in the Senate to fight for Hoosier families and that’s what I want to go do. Shake it up. We need a new generation of conservative leaders in the Senate, and I want to be a part of it.

BUCK: Congressman, appreciate your being with us. You know, there was obviously a lot of back and forth with Kevin McCarthy and trying to figure out who the speaker of the House should be. And it seems that they’ve reached this accommodation. And from what I can tell so far, it looks like things are off to a pretty good start, even for those who perhaps had been previously skeptical of McCarthy’s leadership. There are some good things that are happening, some good votes that are ongoing. Is that the right read? Am I catching that the right way? And are you expecting more of that?

REP. BANKS: Yeah, I think that’s exactly right. I’ve told people every day since that what happened on the floor, 15 votes that led to Kevin McCarthy being speaker had a lot less to do with Kevin McCarthy and a lot more to do with Nancy Pelosi. Republicans are unified in recognizing that we can’t ever allow a speaker to have that much power again, who abuses his or her power with the gavel in their hands that runs over the rest of us. And at the end of the 15 speaker votes, that tumultuous week, the healthy outcome of it is that the rules changes that came out of it empowers rank and file members like me that come from places like Fort Wayne, Indiana, elected by my voters to go to Washington and serve them.

I now have more power in my hands to offer amendments on the floor. I now have the ability to read a bill at least 72 hours before I’m supposed to vote on it. Those simple rules changes came out of the week. It empowers members and it allows us to do what we’re supposed to deliver on the promises that we made. And let me let me finish by saying this last week we began something last week that I think will be a legacy of this Republican majority in the House.

And one of the things that I want to go over to the Senate and focus on, too, and that’s creating a select committee on China for the first time, recognizing that China is our greatest threat economically, militarily. And we created a committee that’s devoted to focusing on the threat and restoring America’s strength to combat the threat of China. I see that fight going on in the House. I don’t see it going on enough in the Senate. And that’s why I want to go be a senator and focus on what China is doing, their strategy to dominate America, change our way of life and fight back against it. We need more fighters in the Senate doing that.

CLAY: Jim, one thing that you guys have already done in the House is ended the covid shot mandate for military. And you are in the military yourself. You’re a lieutenant in the Navy. How frustrating is it to you that anyone lost their job at all in the military over their refusal to get the covid shot? Should those people get their jobs back now, potentially with back pay in your mind? And if so, how does that happen?

REP. BANKS: Yeah, this is so important. I served in Afghanistan. I wore the uniform. Proudest moment in my life. I know. You know what that means. So, I and I’m going to lead the subcommittee of the effort in the House of Representatives on the Armed Services Committee that I serve to make sure that our troops who were separated and punished for not taking a highly politicized vaccine, that they get the opportunity to come back and wear the uniform again. So, this Republican majority is devoted to that. I mean, ending the vaccine mandate was the first step.

We saved something like 60-something-thousand plus troops that are being threatened with being separated for not taking the vaccine. But there are still several thousand. There are thousands of troops who were separated, who were punished. We got to give them a pathway back to serve our country again. And on top of that, you look at the all of the branches are way off their recruiting marks. And I think the vaccine mandate was a part of it but I think a bigger part of it is wokeism in the military. And I’ve tangled with General Milley, some of our top military officials, in the House Armed Services Committee hearing room over this subject.

When the top admiral in the United — the CNO, the top admiral in the United States Navy — tells our troops to read books written by Ibram X. Kendi that teaches them that America is evil and inherently racist, which is actually the anti-racist movement, which is in and of itself very racist and anti-American. That’s not sustainable for our country and the recruitment numbers prove it. How do we inspire the next generation to do what I did? I’ve raised my right hand and taken an oath to serve and protect my country, maybe even pay the ultimate sacrifice when I go to Afghanistan to serve. How do we inspire the next generation to do that? At the same time, we’re telling them that America is inherently racist, evil, and not worth dying for. That’s not sustainable for our country. We’ve got to fight back against it.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana. Congressman, one more for you here. U.S. is going to hit the national debt limit tomorrow. Is this going to turn into anything? What are your thoughts on whether we should talk about this more or have a fight over it? You tell me.

REP. BANKS: Yeah, it better turn into something because we’re at a point where we don’t have a choice. We have to restore America’s fiscal health, address a $32 trillion national debt. And let me tell you, I’m running for the United States Senate because there are way too many Republicans who are a go-along-to-get-along, that roll over in times like this. And we don’t we can’t roll over again. We have to… In the House, we have the majority, we have to use it. We have to use the debt limit as a leverage point to restore fiscal responsibility in this country.

But I don’t see that fight enough in the Senate among a lot of my Republican colleagues over there who are fighting back against massive spending bills and using the debt limit as a time of leverage. That’s why I’m running for the Senate. Go to BanksForSenate.com, help me out. The establishment’s already trying to find somebody to run against me. I’ve got a proven conservative, fiscal conservative track record. I just believe strongly that we need more conservative fighters in the Senate. That’s why I’m running.

BUCK: Congressman Banks, appreciate you being with us, sir. Good luck to you. We’ll talk to you as this Senate battle unfolds.

REP. BANKS: Thank you. Have a good day.