FILE - The sun shines on the dome of Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. A man drove his car into a barricade near the U.S. Capitol early Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022, and then began firing gunshots in the air before fatally shooting himself, police said. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
The two candidates vying for Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District have different views on a sweeping rescue package signed into law 1.5 years ago that has funneled tens of millions of dollars in federal funding to Bartholomew County.
The package, known as the American Rescue Plan, has so far provided about $50.36 million in federal funding for local governments, schools, restaurants, regional projects and educational programming in Bartholomew County, according to local officials and federal and state records.
Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana, who is seeking re-election this year, voted against the legislation. The Republic contacted Pence’s staff multiple times over the past week and provided them with specific questions about his vote on the package, but did not receive a response.
Last year, a Pence spokesperson characterized the American Rescue Plan as a “big lump of (expletive)” in a statement to The Republic.
Pence’s opponent in the November election, Democratic nominee Cinde Wirth, said the bill was a “historic” piece of legislation that local residents “will see the benefits of for decades.”
“There’s so much that people lost during the pandemic, business wise, job wise,” Wirth said. “Everything was suffering during that time, and I think investing back in our people, in our communities is something that is beneficial, and we will see this returned many, many times over, giving people what they need, giving people support when they need it. I definitely would have voted in favor of it.”
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law in March 2021, included, among other things, $350 billion for state and local governments, some $122 billion for schools, more than $15 billion to speed up the distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccines across the country and extended $300 in expanded federal unemployment benefits, The Associated Press reported.
It also included $1,400 direct payments to most Americas and $50 billion to expand testing for COVID-19 and to enhance contract tracing capabilities with new investments to expand laboratory capacity and set up mobile testing units, according to wire reports.
National attention
Pence, for his part, received national attention a few weeks after the bill was signed into law, when he assured small business owners in a tweet that “help is on the way,” urging them to apply for COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan.
However, he failed to mention in the tweet that he voted against the bill providing the funding for the “help.”
When his office was contacted at the time to seek clarification, Pence communications director Hannah Osantowski provided the following emailed statement: “Congressman Pence is always looking for a silver lining hiding in a big lump of (expletive) if it helps out his constituents.”
In the tweet, Pence touted the Restaurant Revitalization Fund established in the American Rescue Plan and included links directing people to more information about the program and how to apply. The $28.6 billion fund offered grants to help restaurants and other eligible businesses offset pandemic-related revenue losses and stay afloat, according to the Small Business Administration.
The tweet included the words “Hoosier Small Business Owners” between two siren emojis. Below that, the tweet states, “Help is on the way for those in the food and restaurant industry, who are still in need of assistance through the @SBAgov’s Restaurant Revitalization fund.”
The tweet grabbed national attention and was featured on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on April 29, 2021. “He’s trying to have his cake and eat it, too, even though he voted to let the bakery go out of business,” Colbert said during his monologue, referring to the second-term congressman from Columbus.
Pence was openly critical of Democrat-led COVID-19 relief efforts in the run-up to the first vote on the American Rescue Plan on Feb. 27, 2021.
The day before the vote, Pence characterized the Democrats’ proposed COVID-19 relief in a tweet as “a partisan joke” that contained “nothing for Main Street.”
“New so-called ‘COVID-relief’ is peak swamp,” Pence said in the tweet. “Washington taking care of Washington. (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi sees this as an opportunity to give her bureaucrat buddies a weekly $1,400 check and a subway in Silicon Valley. A partisan joke. Nothing for Main Street. I can’t support this bill.”
The day before the tweet, Pence took to the House floor to publicly voice his opposition to “the Democrat’s newest proposal,” saying it “is yet again a political statement, rather than a sincere effort at COVID relief.”
At the time the legislation was making its way through Congress, Republicans characterized it as bloated, crammed with liberal policies and heedless of signs the crises are easing, according to wire reports.
Some Republicans noted that they’ve overwhelmingly supported five previous relief bills that Congress has approved since the pandemic struck, when divided government under then-President Donald Trump forced the parties to negotiate, according to wire reports. They said this one solely reflected Democratic goals by setting aside money for family planning programs and federal workers who take leave to cope with COVID-19 and failing to require that shuttered schools accepting aid reopen their doors.
Sens. Todd Young, R-Indiana, and Mike Braun, R-Indiana, also voted against the rescue package, congressional records show.
Local funding
Locally, officials haven’t yet decided how every penny of the money they received from the American Rescue Plan will be spent, though some projects and initiatives have already taken shape.
Bartholomew County government received $16.27 million through the American Rescue Plan, federal records show. Of that, $4 million will be used to fund countywide broadband access, $1.5 million for rural fire departments, $1.2 million for township assistance, $1 million for park improvements, county officials said in previous interviews.
The city of Columbus received $8.57 million through the legislation. City officials have said that the city plans to use $1 million for water and sewer infrastructure, $1 million for capital projects for the Columbus Parks Department, $1.1 million to cover revenue losses during the pandemic and $250,000 to help with a fiber-to-home network, among other things.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. received $13.84 million, according to the Indiana Department of Education. BCSC published a funding plan on its website for the funds that included $8 million for facilities, operations and maintenance, as well as $3.84 million for instruction and $1.91 million for support services.
Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. also received $737,448.
Additionally, several of the most prominent regional projects in Bartholomew County have received millions of dollars in funding through the American Rescue Plan, which bankrolled the Indiana’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, also known as READI grants.
The NexusPark project has received $6 million, while the AirPark Columbus College Campus Program received $3 million. The Columbus Riverfront Project also received $600,000 and the Propeller Innovation Center has received $580,000.
The Restaurant Revitalization Fund provided $755,769 to eight restaurants in Bartholomew County, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury. The restaurants included Blackerby’s Hangar 5 at Columbus Municipal Airport, the downtown Dairy Queen location, among others.
In December 2021, the city and county governments teamed up to use money they received from the legislation to give a collective $905,000 to 12 local non-profits that suffered revenue losses due the pandemic.
Those nonprofits included Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, the Columbus Area Visitors Center, Mill Race Center, Foundation for Youth, Lincoln Central Family Neighborhood Family Center, YES Cinema, Just Friends Adult Day Services, kidscommons, Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, County for Youth Development, the Bartholomew County Historical Society and the Bartholomew County Humane Society.
“We will see the benefits of this for decades, and I think we will all reap the rewards,” Wirth said.
“What I think is really sad is that our current elected representatives vote directly against or decline to vote for bills that directly benefit people in our area, in their districts, that have elected them, because of partisan politics and then do things like cry false foul over the actual good the bills are doing … and then later take credit for these projects that they have voted against,” Wirth added later in the interview. “I think that is shameful. I think that is not representing the people. It is playing games with hardworking people’s lives.”
Mike Wolanin | The Republic Cinde Wirth, Democratic candidate for Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, gives a speech during a Bans off Our Bodies rally in support of abortion rights at Columbus City Hall in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, May 14, 2022.
U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana, speaks on Thursday during an Aspire Legislation Matters luncheon at Valle Vista Golf Club and Conference Center in Greenwood.
