Weekly Columns
As the end of the year approaches, there's no shortage of news here on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives is quickly trying to get impeachment articles, appropriations and military funding finalized before Christmas. But by far the most important news of the week was a deal on the United States, Mexico and Canada Agreement (USMCA). This is an overwhelmingly bipartisan trade agreement that's been ready to go for over a year, and yet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to bring it to the floor for a vote for unspecified reasons.
At their best, robocalls are a frustrating nuisance. At their worst, robocalls are a means by which criminals scam people to get money or personal information. Robocalls have been around for years, but an estimated 48 billion robocalls occurred in 2018 – a 64 percent increase since 2016. Many of you have received these calls, some even posing as your own phone number.
In his book, Love Your Enemies, author Arthur Brooks cites a study showing that 70 percent of Americans believe the U.S. will endure long-term hurt if both political parties don't work together.
The federal budget process isn't likely to be dinner table conversation, it rarely grabs cable news headlines, and it's usually the furthest thing from our minds. But on Nov. 19 in a now-annual pattern, Congress punted its appropriation – government funding – duties for another month in what's called a continuing resolution (CR). I voted against this CR, for several reasons.
At any given time this week, impeachment proceedings completely dominated national news headlines. Yet while networks focused on the partisan process, a huge win for poultry producers across America slipped quietly under the radar. On November 14, China lifted its ban on poultry imports from the United States, thereby reopening a huge market for poultry production.
Former President Ronald Reagan once said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We did not pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." This Veterans Day week, we get to honor the men and women who have fought to protect these freedoms.
The weather is finally getting colder, just in time to kick off hunting season in Arkansas. If you've ever been to my office in D.C., you'll immediately see how much I love hunting. I have pictures from some of my favorite duck hunts hanging on the wall, and just this week I was comparing notes with a visitor on the best places to duck hunt in Arkansas.
If you've driven in Southwest Arkansas for any length of time, you've probably gotten stuck behind a log truck for a few miles. These trucks, stacked high with freshly cut trees, represent just one link in a long chain of timber production. As a forester by trade, I always look forward to Forest Products Week each year, since it's a dedicated time to celebrate the advancement of sustainable forestry from seed to sawmill.
After spending two weeks in Arkansas, I returned to D.C. ready to get to work and tackle legislation. Yet in a pattern that's become all too familiar, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued focusing on impeachment inquiries instead of bringing bipartisan bills to the floor that we can debate and pass to the Senate.
Impeachment is one of the most serious tools that Congress can use, but it's not the only thing we're elected to do. Our responsibility is to serve constituents by passing legislation that supports, protects, and provides for the needs of Americans around the country.
Food is a necessity for life, and agriculture is Arkansas's largest economic sector. The American economy and our basic existence depend on farmers. Almost everything that we use in our daily lives can be traced in some way to farm production or natural resource extraction. From crops to cattle, farmers support an economic chain that affects every single one of our lives.