Ruby-Red Indiana Seeks Public Health Power Grab Despite Massive Covid Failures

Indiana Republicans are considering an expensive public health bill that would increase annual public health spending by $150 million per year. This proposal is surprising as it seems more in line with California or Illinois, rather than with conservative Indiana. The bill’s biggest proponent is GOP Governor Eric Holcomb, who is already unpopular within his own party due to his Covid policies.

The public health bill, which would centralize more power over public health at the state level, could be a threat to citizens’ liberties. During the pandemic, state bureaucrats used “science” to control citizens, placing their authority over the U.S. Constitution and silencing opposing voices. It is naive to think that these bureaucrats would not seek ways to expand their newfound power. Similar public health projects are being implemented in various states, including Maryland, Ohio, Washington, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma. The World Health Organization is promoting a global pandemic accord, and labeling those who won’t agree with its approach as narrow nationalists.

Despite controlling the Indiana statehouse with a supermajority, Republicans are hesitant to push back against a proposal that could increase public health spending at the local level by 22 times the current amount. This spending hike is fiscally irresponsible, and unjustified given how much damage past public health policies have inflicted on Indiana. Republican legislators continue to focus on amending the bill to make it more agreeable rather than scrapping it entirely.

The state health department said it would direct much of the increased funding to local health departments around Indiana. However, the department’s complicated and confusing system requires counties to opt-in to receive extra money. Some county officials are worried that this opt-in system could reduce local control. Bureaucrats have linked grant money to the implementation of the state’s guidance, such as mask mandates. Some senators have attempted to appeal to counties by tying legislative oversight to the money-granting process and including ambiguous language that seems to protect local authority.

Governor Holcomb has a history of abusing his power. He worked with the Senate to gut a House bill that would have protected workers from employer vaccine mandates. Despite pushback from lawmakers and the public, Holcomb held onto his emergency powers for two years following the emergence of Covid. When the General Assembly passed a law allowing it to call its members back into session in case of another public emergency, Holcomb sued and eventually won. Holcomb formed the Governor’s Public Health Commission, designed to expand public health, just a few months after the State House overrode his veto to limit local health department overreach.

Holcomb enforced rules that harmed children, refusing to allow them to attend school or to forgo wearing masks. Even though scientific evidence showed that masks, as well as quarantining, were detrimental, Holcomb enforced them anyway. As a result, more Indiana kids attempted suicide due to extreme isolation caused by those policies. Holcomb’s health department has continued to promote the use of Covid shots as safe, effective, and free, even for babies as young as six months, despite the fact that it does not stop children from contracting Covid and carries risks such as myocarditis.

Indiana’s legislature should hold Governor Holcomb and his health department accountable for their past and current blunders. Entrusting public health with even more funding and responsibility is nonsensical, and could prove to be disastrous.

Those making the financial pitch for the public health bill bypassed Holcomb’s mishandling of Covid, attempting to convince lawmakers that the bill could improve Indiana’s public health. Indiana is near the bottom of the nation in various health indicators like tobacco use, obesity, diabetes, and mental health. However, rewarding a government organization with a poor track record with more money and power is not a sensible solution, and the state’s Republican representatives should be unwilling to do so.

Indiana legislators have already allowed bureaucrats to control society in the name of public health for too long. Therefore, they must hold those who abuse power accountable and resist further power grabs.