Evansville Rescue Mission CEO says bill would criminalize homelessness
'While your Evansville Rescue Mission is an apolitical organization, we will not hesitate to speak out when an issue is of extreme importance to the individuals we serve. After all, they're why we're here! Currently, there is a major issue that is potentially facing homeless people in Indiana, and I ask our colleagues and friends to contact your Senate Representatives immediately and urge them to vote against the amendment that was added to Senate Bill 197. This legislation is unwise, unnecessary and unwarranted, especially in its current form. More discussion and conversations are needed regarding this issue, and hurrying through an ill-advised amendment like this is not the answer. Time is of the essence, so please encourage your state legislators to either drop the amendment, or vote against the bill! Homeless individuals already have enough to worry about. They sure don't need this!'
CEO of Evansville Rescue Mission Tracy Gorman
Senate Bill 197 makes it a Class C misdemeanor for a person to use public property of the state or a political subdivision for purposes of sleeping or camping, subject to certain exceptions and conditions.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
35 minutes ago
Senate kicks off fraught appropriations process against shutdown deadline
The Senate on Wednesday took a step toward approving its first appropriation bill, agreeing to advance military construction and Veterans Affairs spending in a 90-8 vote. But lawmakers have a long way to go to avoid a government shutdown, with 12 appropriations bills to get through before the Sept. 30 deadline. The House, which has passed two appropriations bills, saw its legislative session ended early by Speaker Mike Johnson amid turmoil over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The Senate is set to begin its August recess next week, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune has kept open the possibility of canceling the weekslong break at President Donald Trump's request to advance his nominees. And unlike many of the things that Republicans have done this Congress, passing any of the 12 appropriations bills in the Senate will require 60 votes to pass. Thune, during an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," said "we've got to find a way" to start moving the measures. "We are going to need to get appropriations done. That will require some cooperation from Democrats and hopefully they will be willing to make sure that the government is funded," Thune told host Maria Bartiromo. Democrats seek to strategize on funding Democrats met behind closed doors on Tuesday to try to hash out a cohesive strategy for approaching government funding ahead of the s hutdown deadline. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also met with their Democratic appropriators. At a brief joint press conference afterward, Schumer and Jeffries said Democrats were committed to a "bipartisan, bicameral" appropriations process but blamed Republicans for making a clear path forward to averting a shutdown difficult. "As has always been the case we are prepared to engage in those discussions in good faith, but House Republicans are not there. House Republicans are in fact marching us toward a possible government shutdown that will hurt the American people. We remain ready, willing and able to have the type of appropriations process that will yield a good result for the American people, but that process must be bipartisan and bicameral in nature," Jeffries said. Schumer said Senate Democrats supported the first appropriations bill on military construction and VA funding because it will help veterans and undo some cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency -- but that other issues wouldn't be as simple. Democrats are weighing a number of considerations as they think about how to deal with government funding, especially with most saying they feel scorned after Republicans struck $9 billion in previously-approved funds from the federal budget. Republicans were able to pass the rescissions package, which included cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting, without any Democratic support. Democrats say it amounts to a betrayal of a previous agreement that's left them reluctant about future deals. "Speaking for myself, I am really hard put to vote for appropriations when I know Republicans are just going to ride roughshod and reverse them down the line on a strictly partisan basis," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said on Monday. "The pattern of partisan betrayal on the part of my colleagues gives me a lot of pause so I am really torn about it." Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, echoed those sentiments. "There's a trust issue that we have to have to legislate where you reach an agreement and then there's a switch-a-roo on rescissions and you have 60 votes and it suddenly goes to 50," Welch said. "What we thought was solid and set in stone suddenly melts away, that is a problem." Thune on Tuesday also called for a bipartisan path forward on the appropriations process, but put the onus on Democrats to work with Republicans. "The Democrats have indicated, because they're so upset over the rescissions bill last week -- which, by the way, cut one-tenth of 1 percent of all federal spending -- that somehow they can use that as an excuse to shut down the appropriations process and therefore shut down the government," Thune said at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership. "We think that would be a big mistake, and hopefully they will think better of it and work with us." The White House, though, has made the case the government funding process should be "less bipartisan." "It's not going to keep me up at night, and I think it will lead to better results, by having the appropriations process be a little bit partisan. And I don't think it's necessarily leading to a shutdown," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told reporters last week. "Who ran and won on the on an agenda of a bipartisan appropriations process? Literally no one. No Democrat, no Republican," he added. "There is no voter in the country that's went to the polls and said, 'I'm voting for a bipartisan appropriations process.'" Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said on the Senate floor before Wednesday's vote that she thought his process should move forward in its historically bipartisan fashion despite Republicans' recent moves to work on government funding through a rescissions package. "To be clear, if Republicans continue cutting bipartisan deals with more rescissions, that's not cooperation," Murray said. She added, "So for anyone considering the partisan route, you cannot write a bill without talking to Democrats and then act surprised when Democrats don't support it. You want our votes. You work with us, and this bill today that we're considering shows that is possible."
New York Times
35 minutes ago
- New York Times
Former Gov. Roy Cooper Plans to Enter North Carolina Senate Race, Lifting Democrats
Roy Cooper, the Democratic former governor of North Carolina, is planning to announce a run for Senate as early as next week, giving Democrats a significant boost in one of the key races of 2026, according to two people briefed on the decision. Mr. Cooper, as a popular former governor, has been a top Democratic Party recruit even before the incumbent Republican, Senator Thom Tillis, announced last month that he would retire at the end of his term. Mr. Cooper had appeared inclined to run in recent weeks, and his plans to announce were first reported by Axios. Morgan Jackson, an adviser to Mr. Cooper, declined to confirm that report but said the former governor would make his intentions known 'in the coming days.' The open North Carolina Senate seat is essential for Democrats if the party is to have any chance to take control of the chamber after the 2026 midterms. Party leaders had pushed for Mr. Cooper to enter the race even as former Representative Wiley Nickel had already announced his candidacy. Last year, Mr. Cooper was briefly vetted to be Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate, extricating himself from that process before he could be interviewed. When his term ended as governor, he teased the idea of a Senate run in a 'farewell address' to the state. 'I'm not done,' he said in December. On the Republican side, one possible candidate is Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law, though she has passed on Senate runs before. Others include Michael Whatley, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and members of the state's congressional delegation. Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate, and Vice President JD Vance is able to provide a tiebreaking vote for their party, meaning Democrats must flip at least four seats to take control of the chamber.
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Where top Democrats stand on meeting Mamdani — or endorsing him
New York's top Democrats are moving cautiously when it comes to newly-minted mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, slow-walking their interactions with the youthful progressive candidate and so far holding off on endorsing him. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Hochul, the party's three most powerful leaders in the state, appear to be following a shared playbook regarding Mamdani in the month since he trounced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary to become the party's standard bearer in the November general election. At a time in the campaign cycle when normally they would have already endorsed the winner of the Democratic primary, the trio are instead focusing on building their relationships with Mamdani and laying the foundation to potentially back him at some point in the future. None of the power threesome has said if or when they may formally declare their backing for the charismatic Queens assemblyman, who this week is on a family trip to Uganda, the country of his birth. Mamdani is the favorite in the November election, in which he will run on the Democratic and Working Families party lines. He'll face Republican Curtis Sliwa along with incumbent Eric Adams and Cuomo, both of whom are running as independents. Jeffries, the House minority leader, met with Mamdani last Friday at an office space in East New York. He said the meeting went well but dodged questions about a possible endorsement at a press conference Tuesday. 'At the meeting on Friday, we agreed to reconvene with other members of the delegation and high-level members of the community upon (Mamdani's) return to the country,' Jeffries told reporters. Schumer praised Mamdani in a post on X after his primary victory, calling his campaign a healthy jolt of energy to Democrats with its laser focus on affordability. He has spoken to Mamdani briefly by phone in what aides called an effort to lay the groundwork for a future face-to-face meeting in the city. A spokesman for Schumer said both leaders were targeting August for a meeting when the Senate is in recess and Mamdani will be back from Africa, and before Labor Day, which marks the start of the campaign's home stretch. The senior Democrat hasn't given any indication when he might make an endorsement decision. Both Schumer and Jeffries are strong supporters of Israel and have in the past denounced progressive critics of the Jewish state like Mamdani. They have both objected to the controversial phrase 'globalize the intifada,' which Mamdani has refused to denounce but has said he would encourage supporters to avoid. It's unclear how much Israel-Palestine politics may influence the heavyweights' endorsement calculus, if at all. As for Hochul, the pair have more of a history because Mamdani has often criticized the moderate governor during his three terms in Albany. But both camps have discussed burying the hatchet since the primary and stressed their shared commitment to lowering costs for everyday New Yorkers. Hochul and Mamdani have spoken several times since the primary and met once on the sidelines of the city's Pride march on June 29. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was forced to apologize to Mamdani after she seemed to agree with a caller on a radio show who accused him of being antisemitic. Gillibrand told Mamdani she was sorry for mischaracterizing his record and her 'tone.' Like Schumer, she also fired back at congressional Republicans who vilified him as a terrorist or supporter of Hamas. Like other leaders, she said they plan to meet in New York soon, but gave no details on an endorsement decision.
