By Luker Messer As someone raised by a single mom who worked full-time at a factory in Greensburg, Indiana, I can relate to the phrase "every penny counts." Like many working families, we learned to stretch every dollar as far as it could go. That was the 1970s--when a loaf of bread was 28 cents and a gallon of gas cost 57 cents. As we all know, the cost of starting and raising a family has gone up a little bit since then. That's why I proudly supported the doubling of the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $2,000 in President Donald Trump's new tax cut law. This change will help families pay the costs of raising children and saving for their future. But the true costs of raising a child start even earlier, before a child is born. That's why I recently introduced legislation with Rep. Mark Meadows that would expand the Child Tax Credit to include an unborn child, making it easier to cover the costs before, during and after pregnancy. This pro-life legislation is a way to support mothers, particularly those in a tough financial situation. The bill would essentially double the Child Tax Credit for new parents, amounting to $4,000 total, in order to offset the costs associated with pregnancy and child-birth. Expanding this tax credit will provide more resources to expectant mothers and will make a big difference to growing families. As my co-author, Congressman Meadows, said, "It's simple: expectant mothers and fathers deserve the same financial assistance and tax credit benefits to begin planning for a new child as parents blessed with children already born." This legislation isn't the only effort Congress can take up to advance the pro-life, pro-family cause. The House recently passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, when it's proven an unborn child can feel pain. The United States is one of only seven nations -- including China and North Korea -- that still allows these indefensible late-term abortions. That doesn't put us in particularly good company when it comes to pro-life issues, and it's past time we change it. Unfortunately, because of the arcane rules of the broken United States Senate, the Pain-Capable Protection Act failed. This failure is yet another example of why the filibuster needs to go away. Without the filibuster, a simple majority would have passed this bill and sent it President Trump's desk to become law. Together, these two bills would take a major step toward protecting America's unborn children and saving lives.

By Luke Messer The President's tax cut plan is already delivering higher wages, more jobs and lower taxes for Hoosiers. FedEx recently announced a $1.5 billion investment in its Indiana workforce because of the tax cuts, Family Express in Northern Indiana announced it is raising its base pay, and Fifth Third Bank is raising wages and giving out more than $13 million in bonuses to its employees. You've likely heard hundreds of similar announcements from across the country, including in our state. But what you may not know is the President's tax cut plan is also delivering relief from Obamacare. The President's tax cut plan repeals the "core" of Obamacare -- the individual mandate -- which forced Hoosiers to either purchase health insurance or pay a $695 government fine. This Obamacare penalty was a giant tax on low- and middle-income Hoosiers who couldn't afford Obamacare's skyrocketing premiums, which have increased by 74 percent in Indiana since the law took effect. In 2015, nearly 140,000 Hoosiers paid this onerous individual mandate penalty, and of those, more than 80 percent earned less than $50,000 per year. One of my constituents from Batesville said it best, "I can't afford health insurance yet I get fined by the government for not having insurance." Repealing the individual mandate is a step away from government control of our healthcare and our day-to-day lives, and a return to freedom for all Americans. It will put Indiana families back in charge of their healthcare decisions instead of Washington bureaucrats and is a major step toward fully repealing Obamacare. Relief is also coming from another burdensome Obamacare tax -- the medical device tax. This Obamacare tax harmed Indiana's medical device industry, which is the second largest in the nation and employs approximately 20,000 Hoosiers. This tax caused Hoosier businesses to halt innovation, expansion and hiring in Warsaw, Bloomington, Mishawaka, Indianapolis and several other Indiana communities. For individual consumers, this tax drives up the cost of already expensive and essential medical devices, like pacemakers and blood stints. In 2015, Congress voted to delay the tax for two years, bringing temporary relief to Hoosiers, but it went back into effect on the first of the year. I pushed to include a permanent repeal of the tax as part of a recent government funding bill. The final bill that President Trump signed into law delays the tax for another two years. This is a step in the right direction, and I will continue to fight on behalf of Hoosier workers to permanently repeal this bad tax. It's time to provide certainty in the marketplace, or risk having these jobs shipped overseas. There's more work to do to reduce the cost of healthcare for Hoosiers, but rolling back these crushing Obamacare mandates and taxes is a good start.