"As our jobless rate continues to inch
upward, some claim they are confused at the news.
"They don't get it. The 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly is about
to wrap up its third month, and we haven't done nearly enough to show the
middle class that we are here to help them.
"I agree with the governor that our economy is still struggling, but I would
remind him that the bold solution he seeks is right before him: the Affordable
Care Act, the job creation bill
"Let me repeat the numbers from the Indiana Hospital Association – getting
behind the ACA will create 30,000 jobs in our state and extend affordable
health care to more than 400,000 Hoosiers.
"Yet we continue to dawdle on the merits of this program and pout about the
President.
"Considering what has happened so far, we should not be surprised. Confusion is
the best response to much of what is happening on the issues that should be
handled this session.
"This Legislature's solution to middle class tax relief has been proposing
speeding up both the elimination of the inheritance tax and tax
breaks for Indiana corporations. How either of these proposals will help the
middle class is questionable. Empowering the middle class is the key to
reviving Indiana's economic engine.
"Raise these issues and we are told that answers are coming before the end of
session, but it will take a lot more than what we have seen so far to make
anyone believe that we are trying to take care of the middle class first.
"We are running the very real risk that when we reach the end of this session
on April 29, we will not have helped the middle class: no feasible plan to
create jobs, no way to attack crippling emergency room costs, and nothing that
helps shore up our state's traditional public school classrooms."
