WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND TODAY?

THIS WEEK, after being the first GOP Senator to come out against the budget and debt deal, Senator Braun continued to hold Washington accountable for its runaway spending and massive debt, worked to scale back an Obama-era overreach hurting Hoosier farmers, hit back against Democrat and mainstream media attacks on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and passed two resolutions and one bill for Hoosiers through the Senate and on to President Trump’s desk to become law.

On Thursday, Senator Braun joined Neil Cavuto on Fox News’ Your World to explain why he voted against the budget deal that passed earlier that day, citing concerns with Washington’s bloated budget and ballooning debt and promises he made to Hoosiers to vote against runaway spending.

“Believe me, there’s waste and ways to cut one percent or freeze it until we get back in order. Neil, that would be the easiest job any CEO in America would have, any governor, if that’s all you needed to do.”

Before the budget vote, Senator Braun joined Fox Business’s Bulls & Bears to discuss America’s budget crisis and looming debt calamity for seniors and pensioners.

As reported in The Hill, Senator Mike Braun and Iowa Senator Joni Ernst introduced legislation this week to reassert Congressional responsibility over defining the term Waters of the United States (WOTUS), a move Hoosier farmers have been calling for.

“Braun said clarifying the law is something that should rest with Congress. ‘President Trump and his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are working hard to fix this atrocious Obama-era rule. But as the Administration has repeatedly noted, it’s Congress job to write laws,’ he said in a statement.”

Senator Mike Braun joined St Varney on Fox Business’s Varney & Co. to discuss Democrat and mainstream media attacks on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, charging that the left is attempting to distract from their 2020 platform because they are “embarrassed.”

Senator Braun’s bipartisan bill to put control of the Harmony Way Bridge back into the hands of local Hoosiers and Illinoisans passed the Senate on Thursday, and now heads to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law.

This week, Adam Brandon of the Washington Examiner wrote on the long-term path to fiscal sanity that Senator Braun’s bill with Representative Kevin Brady, the MAP Act, would provide to federal government spending.

“Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., have introduced the Maximizing America’s Prosperity (MAP) Act to address the United States’ $22 trillion national debt. The MAP Act would implement a Swiss ‘debt brake’ that caps spending in relation to potential gross domestic product growth, mitigating the need for politically toxic entitlement reform. Fiscal conservatives should be proud to champion the MAP Act.”

For more details about how Senator Braun’s bill to scale back Obama-era government overreach into farmers’ waterways would affect Indiana, read coverage by the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette‘s Brian Francisco.

The Epoch Times did a deep dive into Senator Braun’s solution to runaway government spending and debt by capping, cutting, and balancing the budget.

“‘If enacted, MAP would be sustainable where previous budget control efforts have failed, because it is designed to withstand economic downturns by using potential GDP and emergencies by budgeting a contingency fund,’ [American Commitment President Phil Kerpen said.”

For live updates, follow Senator Braun on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.

To subscribe to this newsletter and see other updates from Senator Braun, visit his official website. 

On Friday, August 02, 2019 the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office held a press conference at the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation bus garage in order to announce the new SAVE program.

Next week Vanderburgh County students will be returning to school for the 2019-2020 school year. The Sheriff’s Office, Evansville Police Department and EVSC School Police will be stepping up traffic enforcement around area schools and bus routes to help make sure this school year gets off to a safe start.

New for this year is a program created by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI) to help combat school bus stop arm violations. The SAVE program, which stands for Stop Arm Violation Enforcement, is designed to protect transportation routes to and from school by increasing enforcement of Indiana’s school bus stop arm laws.

Indiana recently increased the penalty for recklessly disregarding a school bus stop arm from a Class B Misdemeanor to a Class A Misdemeanor. The offense becomes a Level 6 Felony if a child or other person is injured as a result.

Beginning on August 07, deputies and officers will be following school buses in both marked and unmarked vehicles looking for violations of Indiana’s school bus stop arm laws. Drivers who fail to pay attention and stop for a school bus stop arm will be cited for Disregarding a School Bus Stop Arm as a Class A Infraction. Drivers who intentionally drive around a stopped school bus with an extended stop arm face a more severe penalty and may be charged with a Class A Misdemeanor.

The beginning of school will result in a large number of buses on the road, children getting on and off those buses, new bus stop locations, new bus routes, congestion in and around the schools, new student drivers and many other factors to be aware of as our kids return to the classroom.

Sheriff Wedding explained, “Our deputies will be patrolling all of our county school zones and bus routes this year. Law enforcement officers throughout the city and county will be watching for unsafe driving behavior, checking for speed violations in school zones, monitoring bus routes for safety issues and enforcing school bus stop arm violations.”

At some school locations, sheriff’s deputies will be assisting school personnel with traffic direction in and out of the school parking lots and drop off zones. The Vanderburgh County Highway Department has placed large school zone warning signs near schools to help warn drivers.

Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation schools, Corpus Christi School and St. Joseph School will begin their first day on Wednesday, August 07, 2019. Resurrection Catholic School begins on Thursday, August 08, 2019.

Tips For Back To School Safety:

• If bus service is available, please utilize it.
• Please take pictures of your new student before you get to the school. Do not park in the drop-off zones of any of the schools to take your child into class.
• Utilize the proper restraint systems in your vehicle.
• Keep your speed to a minimum and pay extra attention in and around school zones and near school bus loading areas.
• When a school bus stops and a red stop arm or flashing red lights appear, children are boarding or exiting the bus. Be on the lookout for children crossing the street even after the bus has moved on.
• Please, no cell phone use in the school zones while operating a vehicle and no texting at any time while operating a vehicle.
• Encourage children getting on and off school buses to be very mindful of surrounding traffic, because the traffic may not be watching for them.
• Give yourself plenty of time. Do not let the frustration of running late compromise the good driving decisions you make.
• Please call 911 to report dangerous driving situations.

Footnote: The SAVE program is made possible by funding provided by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI) through a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The DNR Division of Water’s use of technology to communicate flood risks to Hoosiers has been recognized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Cooperating Technical Partners program (CTP).

The Division of Water received honorable mention “for outstanding achievement in developing CTP Communications and Outreach and Program Management activities.”

According to the CTP Newsletter, “Indiana DNR used funding and partnerships to merge the National Flood Hazard Layer to create the Indiana Best Available Floodplain Layer (BAFL).” The BAFL includes more than 18,000 stream miles of updated floodplain information that is useful for planning and better understanding potential flood risk.