Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., criticized national priorities after residents of Gary, Indiana, a majority-Black city, went nearly two weeks without power following a major storm, contrasting the slow recovery with U.S. military spending on artificial intelligence used in the war with Iran. Sanders made the comments on X.
Sanders: “Let’s Get Our Priorities Straight”
“The U.S. is the richest and most advanced nation on earth. We are spending huge amounts on AI to bomb Iran and destroy infrastructure,” Sanders wrote. “Yet after nearly 2 weeks, we can’t restore electricity to Gary, IN, a low-income Black city? Unacceptable. Let’s get our priorities straight.”
Storm Prompted State and Federal Emergency Declarations
A derecho with wind gusts reaching 99 mph tore through northwest Indiana on Aug. 11, felling trees and power lines and contributing to what Gov. Mike Braun’s office later said could exceed $5 billion in damage statewide. Braun declared a statewide disaster emergency, and Indiana’s Department of Homeland Security confirmed that President Trump approved a federal emergency declaration covering 53 Indiana counties, clearing the way for FEMA to supplement state and local response efforts.
More Than 400,000 Customers Lost Power at the Storm’s Peak
The Northern Indiana Public Service Company, or NIPSCO, reported nearly 270,000 outages within the first day of the storm alone, out of roughly 500,000 customers in its service territory; combined with separate flooding-related outages elsewhere in the state, total storm-related outages exceeded 400,000 customers. Gary, whose population is nearly 80% Black and where roughly a third of residents live below the poverty line, was among the hardest-hit areas.
Repair Work Was Paused After Utility Worker Was Shot At
NIPSCO’s restoration timeline slipped repeatedly; the utility had initially targeted Aug. 18 for full restoration before extending the deadline multiple times, ultimately setting Aug. 25 as its final target for Gary, according to the company’s own outage-tracking page. Restoration work was briefly paused in Gary after a utility worker’s vehicle was struck by gunfire.
Indiana National Guard Assisted With Clearing Repair Routes
The Indiana National Guard and Indiana Department of Correction assisted NIPSCO crews by clearing hundreds of blocked routes to allow repair work to proceed, according to the state’s Emergency Operations Center.
Mayor Said 17,000 Residents Remained Without Power More Than a Week In
Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said Aug. 22 that at least 17,000 residents remained without electricity, with more than 20,000 customers across northwest Indiana still affected that weekend, and that the extended outage had caused secondary problems including isolated sewer and water issues, with some residents placed under a boil-water advisory.
Governor Ordered Regulatory Investigation Into NIPSCO
Braun directed Indiana’s Office of Utility Consumer Counselor to petition the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to formally investigate NIPSCO’s vegetation management and right-of-way maintenance practices, and to examine whether funds previously approved by state regulators for infrastructure and reliability improvements were spent as intended. NIPSCO disputed the allegations, saying in a statement that it “strongly disagree[s] with the characterization” of its vegetation management practices. Separately, northwest Indiana residents filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the utility alleging inadequate tree-trimming contributed to the prolonged outages.
Civil Rights Leaders Called Outage Part of a Broader Pattern
Bernice King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote on social media that the Gary outage was “part of a pattern,” saying “Black communities have too often been expected to endure conditions that would be treated as intolerable somewhere else.” The Indiana ACLU separately raised concerns about inequity in the pace of the response.
Pentagon Has Disclosed Extensive AI Use in Iran Targeting
Sanders’ reference to AI spending reflects extensive, publicly disclosed Pentagon use of artificial intelligence in the war with Iran, which began Feb. 28. The department has said its Maven Smart System, built by Palantir under a $1.3 billion contract, helped identify and process roughly 1,000 targets within 24 hours on the war’s first day, part of a campaign that has struck more than 13,000 targets according to Pentagon figures. In May, the department announced expanded agreements with seven technology companies, including SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, to support what it called an “AI-first fighting force.”
Pentagon Requested $13.4 Billion for AI-Related Systems in 2026
The Defense Department’s fiscal year 2026 budget included $13.4 billion for AI-enabled and autonomous weapons systems, including a near-doubling of the Defense Innovation Unit’s budget to $2 billion, according to published Pentagon budget figures. The war’s overall costs have separately strained the department’s finances; then-acting Pentagon comptroller Jules Hurst told the House Appropriations Committee in May that war-related operations had cost roughly $29 billion, a figure officials acknowledged was incomplete.
Sanders Has Repeatedly Linked Military Spending to Domestic Priorities
Sanders, who caucuses with Senate Democrats and serves on the Senate Budget Committee, has repeatedly argued throughout the Iran war that its costs illustrate misplaced national spending priorities relative to domestic needs such as infrastructure, health care and housing.