Jobs and Economic Growth

Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday called a super-project state legislators will consider supporting with millions in state-issued bonds a "golden opportunity" while acknowledging he has philosophical concerns with government providing such monetary support to private companies.

Governor Asa Hutchinson announced today he is calling a special session for state legislators to consider $87.1 million in general obligation bonds under the authority of Amendment 82. The financing will go toward a Lockheed Martin manufacturing facility in East Camden that would produce the company’s new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) developed by the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps. Lockheed Martin is one of three companies under consideration for the contract to manufacture the JLTV. A decision from the Pentagon is expected in July 2015. The JLTV will replace the Humvee, which has been used by the military since 1985.

Governors and conservative legislators in nearly a dozen Republican-dominated states are looking to link work requirements to a Medicaid expansion under Obamacare in a bid to make the federal healthcare law more politically palatable.

In nearly a dozen Republican-dominated states, either the governor or conservative legislators are seeking to add work requirements to Obamacare Medicaid expansion, much like an earlier generation pushed for welfare to work.