The Indiana Chamber held its annual D.C. Fly-in Wednesday and Thursday. We had an outstanding group of speakers from the executive branch, the Indiana Congressional delegation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Consul-General of Japan.
Our partners at the U.S. Chamber kicked off the event with Ashlee Rich Stephenson, the organization’s senior political strategist; she talked about today’s political landscape and how that’s impacting policy efforts for the business community. Representative Jackie Walorski (CD-2), Rep. Jim Baird (CD-4), Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (CD-9), Rep. Greg Pence (CD-6) and Sen. Todd Young joined us and discussed their views on the bipartisan infrastructure package and the reconciliation bill that are both expected to get voted on next week. They also filled us in on their priorities for legislation going forward. We had senior officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Treasury discuss responses to the pandemic and policy priorities of the administration. We were also fortunate to have the new Consul-General of Japan in Chicago, Tajima Hiroshi, join us to discuss trade between Japan and Indiana.
Representative Hollingsworth joined us again on Thursday and focused his discussion on education, workforce, term limits and the Drive Safe Act (that would address the massive truck driver shortage). On the latter, he noted the expectation that the legislation will be brought up in the near future for a vote. Then Rep. Jim Banks (CD-3), Rep. Victoria Spartz (CD-5), Rep. Larry Bucshon (CD-8), Rep. Frank Mrvan (CD-1) and Sen. Mike Braun joined us for a lively discussion. Topics included the $28.8 trillion U.S. national debt, infrastructure, immigration, education, COVID-19 vaccines, national security, energy, health care and more. We closed out day twowith officials from the U.S. Department of Education and the White house joining us to discuss priorities of the Biden administration, along with business concerns that some of those priorities might create.
Fortunately for those of you that missed this great event, you can access the Zoom recordings on our web site. The 2021 D.C. Fly-in was free for all Chamber members and couldn’t have taken place without the generous support of our sponsors: Zimmer Biomet, the Build Indiana Council, Indiana State University, CenterPoint Energy and TruGreen. This was the second straight year that the event was virtual due to the pandemic. Next year, we hope to have the event take place in Washington, D.C.; keep your fingers crossed!
Resource: Greg Ellis at (317) 264-6881 or email: gellis@indianachamber.com
