IndyStar examined U.S. Rep. Jim Banks' record in Congress and the Statehouse
Jim Banks, who at this point has massive leads in both fundraising and name recognition in his run for U.S. Senate, has crafted the image of a culture warrior who uses his social media platforms to promote the obliteration of wokeism in education and other institutions, impeaching President Joe Biden, tough-on-China foreign policy and crackdowns on illegal immigration.
The Republican, though, also has a record as a member of Congress since 2017 and a member of the Indiana Statehouse from 2010 to 2016. He has passed legislation that both speaks to cultural issues of the day ― from "parental rights" to taking a stance against "diversity equity and inclusion" ― and makes incremental changes in education policy and the lives of veterans.
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IndyStar examined his record and found:
U.S. House: What bills has Banks passed?
In his four terms as representative for Indiana's 3rd Congressional District, which covers the northeastern part of the state, he's written four pieces of legislation that have become law, either directly or by being inserted into someone else's bill. All have to do with veterans ― Banks is an veteran of the Navy Reserves.
They include:
House bill 8656, signed by President Joe Biden in 2022, which renamed the clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Mishawaka as the "Jackie Walorski VA Clinic" after the congresswoman who died last year in a car crash
House bill 3656, signed by President Donald Trump in 2018, which added an eligibility date to the part of the law that provides gravestones for spouses and children of veterans whose remains are unavailable
Banks' Military Career Intermission Program Act of 2018 was incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act signed by Trump that year. Banks' provision allows members of the armed services to take time off from active duty to participate in job training programs
Banks' Veterans Success on Campus Act of 2017 was incorporated into the Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, signed by Trump. Banks' provision directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide job counseling services to veterans attending college.
How does Banks compare to his House peers?
The Center for Effective Lawmaking, a project of the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University, calculates "effectiveness" scores based on a lawmaker's success at moving bills through steps of the legislative process ― not just becoming a law, but getting real attention from a committee or passing a chamber of Congress ― and on how substantive those bills are.
The center gives every lawmaker a score and compares that score to a "benchmark," or the expected score of someone who has the person's seniority, leadership positions and party affiliation, given whichever party is in charge.
In his first three terms, Banks scored slightly above his benchmark. For the last two sessions of Congress, his score ranked him in the top 70 of more than 200 House Republicans.
"He’s essentially as successful as you’d expect," said Alan Wiseman, a Vanderbilt political science professor who co-directs the Center for Effective Lawmaking.
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And more productive than most in terms of bill-writing: While he introduced more than 40 bills last session, the average House member introduced 21, by Wiseman's calculation.
Those bills run the gamut from calling for sanctions against China, Russia and Iran, to enshrining "parental consent" when it comes to students' gender identity, to having the Department of Education pay education expenses for kids whose parents are active-duty military.
Banks' leadership scores, as calculated by GovTrack according to one's ability to get cosponsors on bills, have only risen during his time in office, from ranking him in the bottom quarter of House Republicans in 2017 to No. 8 in 2022.
During that year, he chaired the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House.
What else has Banks influenced?
He's flexed his leadership muscles in a few other ways, mostly to achieve goals on his social-issue and veterans-issue agendas.
Last year, he got 90% of House Republicans to sign his discharge petition to bring a colleague's bill dealing with girls' and womens' sports to the House floor for a vote. The bill, H.R. 426, would make it illegal for institutions that receive federal funding to allow transgender girls to participate in girls' sports.
The year before, he got almost all of them to sign onto a letter opposing Democrats' proposed repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal dollars from covering abortion services.
This year, as chair of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, Banks wrote a number of amendments included in this year's National Defense Authorization Act that is on its way to Biden's desk:
Requiring the Department of Defense to determine whether Chinese officials assisted or approved the movement of fentanyl products to Mexican drug cartels
Requiring the Department of Defense to write a policy saying that all military recruitment, assignments and promotions shall be merit-based and not take into account race, gender, quotas, favoritism or nepotism
Suspending the Navy's "digital ambassador" program, a pilot program using social media to recruit to a Gen Z audience, after the Navy faced criticism for choosing a sailor who is also a drag queen as one of its ambassadors
Prohibiting the Department of Defense from hiring anyone to a position above a certain rank whose duties would include diversity, equity and inclusion
Prohibiting the Department of Defense from punishing any member of the U.S. armed forces for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine
Directing the Department of Defense to grant requests from unvaccinated, discharged service members to change their reason for discharge, and to create a process for reinstating those members
In the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, he secured a few amendments that were more narrowly addressed to his constituents, including language allowing for air craft upgrades for the Fort Wayne Air National Guard base and making sure the remains of soldiers are transported back to the U.S. on military aircraft, rather than commercial. The latter was inspired by the experience of Lauren Tomkiewicz of Fort Wayne, whose late husband, Capt. Matthew J. Tomkiewicz of Fort Wayne, died during a training exercise in Norway.
What did Banks do at the Indiana Statehouse?
Throughout his six years as a state senator from 2010 to 2016, Banks made headlines for introducing a few controversial bills that never got hearings, like bills to allow college students to open-carry on campus and "heartbeat" bills making abortion illegal at six weeks.
He was one of three Senate sponsors of the proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman, though that amendment didn't make it to the voters.
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But in other areas, like in education and veterans' issues, Banks was a productive senator. During his five legislative sessions ― he missed the 2015 session while deployed in Afghanistan for the Navy ― he authored 32 bills that were signed into law. For comparison, Sen. Rodric Bray had about the same number of bills become law over the course of four sessions before he became Senate President Pro Tempore.
Banks' most prolific term was his second one, when 22 of his bills became law. Most were education-related ― he sat on the Education and Career Development committee his entire time in office, as well as Veterans Affairs.
Some of the more significant bills include:
Senate Bill 162 of 2013, requiring the IEDC to publish the details of their incentive packages after an agreement is made and to provide annual reports about the success of economic development projects, such as how many jobs they actually created
Senate Bill 182 of 2013, allowing students who've earned an associate's degree at a two-year state school to be able to transfer their credits to a four-year college or university.
Senate Bill 406 of 2013, expanding postsecondary enrollment opportunities for high school kids, including where dual-enrollment classes can be taken
Senate Bill 409 of 2013, directing the Department of Education to establish standards for evaluating teacher preparation programs
Senate Bill 205 of 2014, requiring charter schools to publish annual reports publicly and limiting their contracts to seven years
Senate Bill 292 of 2014, authorizing the state to inspect abortion clinics at least once a year and requiring the clinics to have records of doctors’ admitting privileges on site
Senate Bill 321 of 2014, allowing charter school operators manage funds across schools in their network, like public school corporations do
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Here's U.S. Rep. Jim Banks' record in Congress and the Statehouse
