Listen (20:00 marker): INGOP’s Mike O’Brien praises Indiana Democrats going on offense with American Rescue Plan Tour 

POLL: About 47-percent of REPUBLICANS approve of Joe Biden’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic 

POLL: About 68-percent of Americans – including 41-percent of Republicans – support the American Jobs Plan

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Democratic Party, the organization that advocates for the future of Indiana and its families, today highlighted Indiana Republican Party insider Mike O’Brien’s compliments about the recent American Rescue Plan tour, because it once again displays how the Rescue Plan and the Democrats’ promise to deliver for Hoosiers continues to earn bipartisan support. O’Brien has reason to worry because while more than 47-percent of Republicans supported President Joe Biden’s Rescue Plan, not a single Congressional Republican from Indiana voted “YAY” for the measure that’s helping Indiana put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror. The Republicans’ “NAY” votes once again revealed the Party to be an organization without an identity and carrying an agenda that only divides Hoosier families. 

Here’s what Republican Mike O’Brien had to say:

Listen (20:00 marker): INGOP’s Mike O’Brien praises Indiana Democrats’ American Rescue Plan tour

“I think it’s a really smart strategy…there are large parts of the state that are just…don’t feel like they aren’t represented in the extremes of the party on the national level – both sides. So if you go, if you’re an Indiana Democrat – this is a strategy that Pete Buttigieg used in Iowa, right? I mean, he didn’t go to Des Moines, he went to little rural areas and hit all these little shops and county seats and built a great campaign off of that. So, he’s using the same strategy here. Just because we’ve been in power for 16 years, I’m one of the few middle-aged Republicans that was a young Republican back when Democrats controlled everything. If you don’t have the governor’s office, you’re kind of out of business, ya know, as a party. It’s hard to get it back when you do. I hope Republicans are mindful of this and don’t just sleep on this strategy and this engagement because we won’t win forever.”  – Mike O’Brien, Indiana Republican panelist

Indiana Democrats look to continue its work by delivering the upcoming American Jobs Plan, which will revitalize the state’s infrastructure system and create a better tomorrow for the state. The Jobs Plan is needed because as it stands, Indiana is experiencing a worker shortage due to the Republican Party’s record of losing “good jobs” and making Hoosiers work more for less. This infrastructure package will repair Indiana’s crumbling roads and bridges, expand broadband internet access, eliminate childcare deserts, improve health care access for Indiana’s veterans, and dissolve the state’s “right to work” laws that created the worker shortage in the first place. 

Hoosier families will learn about the American Jobs Plan with another statewide tour by the Indiana Democratic Party. Details about the Jobs Plan tour – including speakers and locations – are forthcoming.

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