In the News
I’ve had the privilege of visiting all 50 states, and I can confidently say America is unparalleled in its beauty, diversity, heritage, and bounty of natural resources. From deserts, to mountains, to marshes, to coastlines, and everything in between, ours is a country unlike any other. Church organist Katherine Lee Bates perhaps said it best when, inspired by her view from atop Pikes Peak, she penned the now familiar refrain, “Oh beautiful, for spacious skies/For amber waves of grain/For purple mountain majesties/Above the fruited plain.”
The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is finally testifying before Congress this week.
Members of the Congressional Western Caucus said the federal government's ownership of large tracts in the Western United States complicates land management.
"I come from a state where the public land ownership is two-thirds of the land mass," Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-District 1, of Idaho, said Friday after touring the Blakely Mountain Dam power plant. "We've had a terrible time getting access to wisely manage that land, because it's publicly controlled, and it's susceptible to environmental lawsuits."
It is no secret that every summer, western states experience what has become an annual season of devastating wildfires. The West is a patchwork of public lands, and the federal government has long neglected its responsibility to actively manage the forests and grasslands it owns.
Leadership starts with a strong national energy policy, and the United States must lead in our response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Everyone now knows more should have been done to stymie Russia before the invasion, but now we must look forward and lead with confidence and boldness to protect Americans and strengthen our allies in this fight for freedom.
As New Mexico’s legislators returned to Santa Fe for the 2022 legislative session, one of their main challenges was how to spend the nearly $2 billion budget surplus the state collected in 2021.
This surplus came in large part from revenues collected from oil and gas production on federal and state lands. Our state public education system will be a major beneficiary of these funds, while students are still reeling from months of virtual learning due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In less than two weeks, the U.S. government runs out of money to fund necessary programs. Prices continue to rise for consumer products of all kinds, from gasoline to chicken. Millions of Americans have left the workforce and businesses are desperately searching for employees. Students and their families in Blue states across the country are still dealing with school district policy dictated by teachers' unions that want schools closed.
FFA offered me incredible high school experiences for which I will always be grateful. Much of what I know about agriculture and animal husbandry came not only from growing up on a small farm, but also from the classroom and hands-on experiences FFA afforded. Looking back, I had no idea how important FFA would be in my career, but I sure do now. The number one industry in Arkansas' Fourth District, which I'm privileged to represent in Congress, is agriculture.
President Biden's "Build Back Better" (BBB) agenda certainly has a catchy name. It implies that through this legislation, America will be catapulted into a new, and brighter, future.
President Biden is right about one thing: This will remake America into something we have never seen before, but I question if it's a remaking America needs or wants.
The White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain recently retweeted a preposterous claim that inflation is a "high class problem." I disagree.