https://progressiveindiana.net
SUMMARY:
With central Indiana still reeling from record flooding, Rev. Tony Alexander and Pastor David W. Greene Sr. open with the question that will frame the entire hour: does our government actually care for the people? To answer it, Rev. Alexander plays a clip from a recent Senate Banking Committee hearing in which Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) walks through Matthew 25 verse by verse — “I was hungry,” “I was thirsty,” “I was a stranger,” “I was naked,” “I was sick” — and asks Dr. Julie Margetta Morgan of the Century Foundation to assess the Trump economy against each one. The data is damning across the board: 4 million Americans off SNAP (700,000 of them children), low-income families losing roughly $1,200 under H.R. 1, Medicaid cut by $1 trillion, ACA premium tax credits expired, immigrants terrorized by ICE, and the unhoused facing a NOFA lawsuit that could strip $3–4 million from Indianapolis’s permanent supportive housing funding. Between clips, Rev. Alexander and Pastor Greene connect Warnock’s Senate testimony to the local Indianapolis reality: Streets to Home lost six unhoused residents to the floods and still can’t locate them; CICOA — Central Indiana Council on Aging — is barely surviving; the Fair Housing Center is operating under profound budget uncertainty; and Mitch Roob’s tenure leading FSSA gutted CCDF child care funding that Indiana is still trying to claw back. Caller Guy responds to the framing with an Animal Farm analogy — some animals think they’re more equal than others — and makes the case for supporting Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s defense of Haitian TPS workers and for turning out at the November midterms. The program closes with a voting urgency segment: check your registration on the Indiana Voter Portal, prepare for potential voter suppression at the polls in November, and get ready for souls to the polls.
WHAT’S INSIDE
00:00:00 Station ID and program open
- Rev. Alexander opens with flood recovery concerns — many central Indiana residents still displaced, no flood insurance, looking to FEMA for help.
- Pastor Greene opens in prayer for storm-impacted families, including those living near the river.
00:03:28 Indiana flooding — FEMA, insurance, and the cuts that matter now
- Central Indiana flooded unexpectedly last week with little warning — many residents are still trying to get home.
- Many flood victims don’t have separate flood insurance and will need federal disaster relief.
- FEMA has undergone massive DOGE-era staffing cuts. Pastor Greene: nobody worried about FEMA until now — and now we need it and it’s been hollowed out.
- Pastor Greene: the president’s decision to release disaster dollars will be the critical variable; we’ll have a real answer within a month.
00:06:48 The central question — does our government care for the people?
- Rev. Alexander frames tonight’s central question: does the federal government — and Indiana’s state government — actually care for the people?
- We’ve already seen the administration admit in court that it withheld disaster funds from states that voted Democratic. That’s the backdrop.
- Tonight, Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock from a Senate committee hearing will help walk through the answer using Matthew 25.
00:08:57 Senate hearing clip — Sen. Warnock and Dr. Morgan: hunger and SNAP
- [From a Senate committee hearing] Sen. Warnock opens by citing a Fox News poll: more than half of voters say Trump’s economy only helps the rich; three in five feel pessimistic about the economy.
- He introduces a Matthew 25 framework: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.”
- Dr. Julie Margetta Morgan (Century Foundation): 4 million Americans have lost SNAP benefits under this administration, including 700,000 children. One in three Americans has skipped meals to cope with the cost of living crisis.
- Sen. Warnock: Republicans claim those cut from SNAP are able-bodied men — but you’re saying children are going food insecure.
00:11:32 Response — SNAP cuts, CCDF, and Indiana’s own record
- Rev. Alexander: SNAP cuts aren’t just a federal story — Indiana is stripping child care benefits too, with school-age children losing access to programs right here.
- Pastor Greene: applauds Warnock for using Matthew 25 to challenge self-described Christians in Congress. Children have also been cut from CCDF — the Child Care and Development Fund — here in Indiana.
- Mitch Roob, who runs Indiana’s FSSA, oversaw cuts that Indiana is still fighting to recover from. Indiana is now just trying to claw back some vouchers, not all.
- We’re cutting Medicaid, Medicare, and food programs — and calling it righteousness. That doesn’t line up with Matthew 25.
- Pastor Greene: if you claim to be a Christian nation, how do you rationalize food deserts, people without housing, people without health care?
00:14:28 Christian nationalism vs. Matthew 25
- Rev. Alexander: are you Christian first or nationalist first? Are you putting Trump before Jesus? Are you putting policy before the Word?
- Pastor Greene: they’re putting country before God. Matthew 25 says “I was a stranger and you invited me in” — that’s the direct counter to the ICE movement.
- Lt. Gov. Beckwith has implied that to be a Christian you must be a white American nationalist. Pastor Greene: they miss the whole thing. Jesus himself is speaking in Matthew 25.
00:18:08 Senate hearing clip continues — clothing and housing
- [Hearing resumes] Sen. Warnock: “I needed clothes and you clothed me.” How have the president’s policies been for poor, unemployed, or unhoused Americans?
- Dr. Morgan: low-income families lost roughly $1,200 under H.R. 1 — the One Big, Beautiful Bill. The administration has imposed time limits and work requirements on rental assistance and proposed cuts to homeless support programs. Rising utility costs are also hitting the poorest families.
00:19:17 Response — the unhoused in Indianapolis; Streets to Home and the NOFA lawsuit
- Pastor Greene: the Streets to Home initiative was working with a camp, hoping to get people housed — and then the flood hit. About six individuals can no longer be located. Please pray.
- The NOFA — Notice of Funding Availability — which is the largest community financial instrument for homeless services in Indianapolis, is now in a lawsuit. The Trump administration restructured it without the required 60–90 day public comment period.
- Even before the lawsuit, Indianapolis was set to lose $3–4 million next year. People in permanent supportive housing could lose their rental funding and return to homelessness.
- The lawsuit could drag to the Supreme Court, which leans toward Trump. Pastor Greene pledges to keep the community informed.
- Sister Denise asks about the Fair Housing Center — Pastor Greene: it still exists today, but its budget is in deep uncertainty. Amy Nelson could give a fuller picture; at the federal level, fair housing is not prioritized.
00:26:01 Response continued — CICOA, the nonprofit sector, and economic pressure
- Rev. Alexander: CICOA — Central Indiana Council on Aging — which provides Meals on Wheels, ramp installation, and other senior and disability services, is barely surviving.
- Pastor Greene: he’s not sure organizations like CICOA will even exist by end of 2027. They’ve already gone through a huge staff reduction and are running fundraisers just to hold on.
- The entire nonprofit sector is suffering — fair housing, homeless services, senior services — because the government has pulled funding from entities that help people.
- Pastor Greene responds to Denise’s question about economic conditions: yes, there’s enormous financial pressure across the board — AES bills are up, gas is up, people are in near-shock about what they’re dealing with.
00:27:29 Senate hearing clip — healthcare and Medicaid
- [Hearing resumes] Sen. Warnock: “You looked after me.” How have the president’s health care policies been?
- Dr. Morgan: Medicaid has been cut; ACA premium tax credits have not been extended, jacking up premiums for millions; employer-sponsored plan costs are rising. People are choosing between being uninsured or taking skimpier coverage.
- Sen. Warnock: the Trump administration cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and called it waste, fraud, and abuse. Did they cut more than that? Dr. Morgan: they cut care for American families.
00:28:28 Response — healthcare in Indiana
- Pastor Greene: healthcare is a terrible place right now. He was in a meeting today — not promising. Medicare is under attack; the state isn’t trying to add anything, only cut based on dollars and cents even where there are surpluses.
- Indiana already went through major healthcare cuts in 2025 and 2026. Nothing in the forecast changes that in 2027.
00:29:36 Senate hearing clip — immigration; then caller Guy
- [Hearing resumes] Sen. Warnock: “I was a stranger and you invited me in.” How has the Trump economy been for law-abiding immigrants and dreamers?
- Dr. Morgan: families are afraid to go to work or send children to school because of ICE. Benefits and programs for law-abiding immigrants are under attack. The Trump economy serves the rich, Trump himself, his billionaire colleagues, and the banks that got him to roll back consumer protections.
- Rev. Alexander on TPS: Haitian immigrants under Temporary Protected Status have been here legally since as early as 2010 — some for 15 years, with careers, mortgages, children in school. They’re being given 30–60 days to uproot. A minor league baseball coach in San Diego was detained by ICE.
- Caller Guy answers Rev. Alexander’s question with an Animal Farm reference — some people think they should be more equal than others — Guy argues it’s a numbers game, and the group that wants to be more equal is losing demographically. He cites Republicans Governor DeWine of Ohio defending Haitian TPS workers: Ohio recruited them because no one else would do the work. Deporting them is economically self-defeating. Guy’s two remedies: support DeWine’s stance; vote on November 3rd.
00:42:47 Post-Guy discussion — Haitians, healthcare workers, and the demographics of suppression
- Pastor Greene agrees with Guy: Ohio businesses recruited Haitians because they couldn’t get anyone else. Getting rid of them is illogical.
- Pastor Greene: “I agree with Guy” — some people see the growing minority population as a threat and are trying to suppress it through every mechanism available: DEI elimination, MEI, immigration enforcement, voter suppression. This comes all the way down to who they’re trying to screen out of voting.
- Lt. Gov. Beckwith is named as someone who makes this explicit. It’s being done in the wide open. The problem is some people still can’t believe it.
- Faith communities across traditions — Muslim, Jewish, Christian — all agree on loving the stranger, feeding the poor, treating the homeless with dignity. The government is not aligned with any of that right now.
00:45:12 Senate hearing clip — Sen. Warnock’s closing statement
- [Hearing resumes] Sen. Warnock’s closing: Trump has been president 18 months. He was elected to lower costs. He has raised costs for everybody and shredded the safety net. “This Trump economy isn’t just bad. For me, it’s a moral abomination. This is bigger than politics. It’s about humanity.”
00:45:52 The moral document — budget as faith statement
- Pastor Greene: the budget is a moral document. If we were concerned about people, our decision-making would look different. This administration is committed to money — for a certain number of people — not to people broadly.
- Rev. Alexander: Warnock used Dr. Morgan’s data to make facts coincide with Matthew 25. That’s what good public theology looks like.
00:46:29 Voting urgency — midterms, the SAVE Act, and voter roll purges
- Sister Denise notes that many white women voted for Trump — and they too are at risk of losing voting rights under the SAVE Act’s identification requirements. If you’ve been married or divorced, name mismatches could block you from voting.
- Rev. Alexander: check your registration now at the Indiana Voter Portal. Indiana has already handed voter data to the federal government — they’re combing through it.
- Pastor Greene: if you’re not in the rich category, you’re on the menu. The system is designed for the rich to get richer. Be committed to a voting plan regardless of what November looks like — ICE agents may be deployed at polling sites in high-Latino or minority-heavy precincts to suppress turnout.
- Rev. Alexander: he expects a heightened effort at the midterms specifically, not 2027 or 2028. Trump doesn’t want to lose the Senate and House and face real committee oversight and potential impeachment proceedings.
- Both hosts: souls to the polls. We tested the primary. November has to be bigger.
00:53:00 Program close
- Rev. Alexander: Senator Warnock led the program tonight. We appreciate his work in the Senate.
- Rev. Alexander signs off with a blessing for next week.
