Republican Governor Mike Braun spoke in Evansville Tuesday at an Evansville Regional Economic Partnership event, where he emphasized his approach of running state government “like a business.” The discussion focused on economic policy and efficiency, but Braun also took questions afterward on topics including redistricting and federal food assistance.
Braun said Hoosiers will benefit from proposed changes to Indiana’s congressional maps, which are expected to be discussed during a special session in early December. He described the effort as part of what he called “leveling the playing field” against what he says are Democratic-led gerrymandering efforts in other states. “The six bluest states in the northeast, three times the electoral votes have been gerrymandered for a long, long time. Six reddest in the West, maybe have one congressional district or two, so it’s a big imbalance there. This is evens the playing field.” Currently, Democrats hold two of Indiana’s nine seats in the U.S. House — the Seventh District in Indianapolis and the First District in northwest Indiana.
Braun also addressed recent changes to SNAP benefits during the question period. He said he does not expect most states to step in to fill funding gaps, arguing that the program needs structural reforms.“…taking care of the people that need it the most through these programs — currently we don’t do that because we run the whole operation there inefficiently. I think President Trump’s trying to fix it. We’re right at that breaking point.”
President Trump announced this week that SNAP payments will not be issued until after the federal shutdown concludes.
