Mitch Daniels
Governor

Comments and Articles from the Governor

July 1, 2009– Governor Mitch Daniels today said the two-year budget passed by the General Assembly last night is a victory for Hoosier taxpayer protection and a huge step forward for education reform in Indiana.

“This budget is the product of a healthy compromise. In addition to striking a great bargain that protects taxpayers in this state, almost uniquely in America, we’ve done a good thing for our kids, their future and our state’s future. And we still have a billion dollars in reserve when there are tax increases happening all over the country.”

He also cautioned against future challenges in crafting the next biennial budget in 2011 .

“If the legislature thinks this budget was difficult, just wait for the next time. We’ll be dealing with fewer dollars in two years than we did two years ago. With profound thanks to everyone who produced a really good outcome last night, the work of protecting taxpayers will have to continue.”

The governor said he will renew efforts to enact local government reform in the 2010 legislative session.

“I hope we make more forward progress next year. We should never ever skip an opportunity or a session, short or long, to try and make positive change, and we’ll be thinking about that starting right away,” said Daniels.

"This is Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana.

"The role of the loyal opposition is important in our democracy. It imposes a duty to wish for the nation's success, to express not just disagreements, but agreements where they exist, and to leave partisanship at the water's edge.

"I do wish President Obama well. I support his education reform ideas, anti-fraud initiative in social programs, and the great example he and his family are setting for families across America. And I endorse wholeheartedly his stated commitment to 'government that works.'

"One policy being pushed by the President and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is, I regret to say, a poster child for government that cannot work. The scheme to radically change the sources and the cost of American energy through a system known as 'cap and trade' may be well intentioned, but it will cost us dearly in jobs and income, and it stands no chance of achieving its objective of a cooler earth.

"The national energy tax imposed by Speaker Pelosi's climate change bill would double electric bills here in Indiana, working a severe hardship on low-income families, but that's only where the damage starts. In a state where we like to make things, like steel and autos and RVs, it would cost us countless jobs, many of them heading off-shore to China and India. Our farmers and livestock producers would see their costs skyrocket. And our coal miners would be looking for new work, while we leave affordable, homegrown energy idle in the ground.

"And all for what? Even if one believes the Administration's own computer models, which they claim can predict temperatures fifty years away, the CO2 reductions from their bill will not budge the world thermometer by a tenth of a degree.

"It's become clear that the Pelosi bill has little to do with a cooler planet and everything to do with raising money for the out-of-control federal spending now underway in Washington. Please excuse us Midwesterners for feeling a bit like the targets of an imperialistic policy, devised in places like California, New York, and Massachusetts for their benefit, at our expense.

"We have here a classic example of unwise government: The costs for all Americans will be certain, huge, and immediate. Any benefits are extremely uncertain, miniscule, and decades distant. Surely there is a better way.

"Here in Indiana, we are active in pursuing a better energy future and proving that we can protect the environment, lower energy costs, and create jobs at the same time - all without raising taxes. We have rocketed to national leadership in biofuels. We are the nation's leader in the new technology that can use coal more cleanly. We are serious about major advances in conservation; the best way to reduce both pollution and CO2 is to use less energy in the first place. And last year, we were the fastest growing state in wind power.

"There is tremendous risk in being pushed into an unfair and ultimately counterproductive national energy tax that will cost us dollars today and jobs tomorrow. Let's take a breath, slow down, and work together on conservation, the infrastructure to bring on more wind and alternative energy, and the new technology that will let us use our abundant homegrown coal in ways we can all support. That, Mr. President, would be 'government that works.'

"Thank you for listening."

Just in case you missed it, over the weekend Indiana's own Governor Mitch Daniels gave the GOP weekly radio address. His topic was "cap and trade", a scheme by President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and other liberals in Washington to hike taxes and increase our electric bills.

Coal power plants and coal mining will be heavily taxed and penalized under this legislation. The "cap and trade" bill currently before Congress will be particularly harmful to Hoosiers, because we get most of our electricity (94%) from coal. A large amount of coal is also mined in southern Indiana, which means that "cap and trade" will cost many Hoosiers their jobs.

Worse still, "cap and trade" will do virtually nothing to help the environment, according to President Obama's own estimates. The real objective of "cap and trade" is to raise taxes to pay for yet more spending by Congress and the Obama administration.

In a recent article in the Corydon Democrat, the Harrison County REMC estimated that "cap and trade" would cause the electric bill of the average Hoosier to go up by around $50 a month.

You can watch Mitch Daniels' address at our website here:

http://www.harrisongop.com/2009/05/mitch-gives-weekly-gop-radio-address.html

The text of his remarks is also available there, in case your internet doesn't do video very well.

Please read up on this important issue, and pass it on to your friends. We can't afford to be silent.

Thanks for your time,

Scott Fluhr
Chairman
Harrison County Republican Central Committee