Crawford Wants Farm Subsidies Spared

The freshmen Republicans in Congress have wasted little time positioning themselves as budget-cutters. They are likely to be at the epicenter of the latest budget battle that appears headed toward another impasse and possible federal government shutdown.

Peter Urban with our content partner, Stephens Media’s Washington D.C. Bureau, files this report noting that First District freshman Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Jonesboro) wants farm subsidies spared if major budget cuts are considered.

From the report:

“Everything is on the table, but I don’t want to see agriculture unduly burdened,” said Crawford, R-Jonesboro. “Certainly direct payments and counter-cyclical payments I don’t want to see go away.”

Crawford and other members of the House Agriculture Committee on Tuesday approved sending a “views and estimates” letter to House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., urging that the Department of Agriculture not suffer significant cuts in 2012.

The letter, which was approved without dissent, suggested that spending reductions in previous years should mitigate deep cuts in the coming year. It noted that spending on farm policy in the last five years averaged $12.9 billion per year, or 28 percent less than the $18.8 billion yearly average between 1997 and 2001.

You can read more on the subject at this link. Also, Crawford and his office made this Roll Call feature story (subscription required).

Apparently, Tuesdays have become "bow tie Tuesdays" in Crawford’s office

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The Arkansas Republican proposed the idea for “bow tie Tuesday” a few weeks back when the staffers were feeling drained after working tirelessly on the continuing resolution spending bill.

Crawford sent a mass text message to the men in the office and a weekly tradition was born.

“Bow tie Tuesday is something different to break up the monotony of the day and give the office something to look forward to,” Crawford tells HOH. “It’s also a great conversation piece on the House Floor.”

Men in the office aren’t the only ones to get onboard with the trend. The women in Crawford’s office have begun wearing bows in their hair.

In fact, “bow tie Tuesday” has been so well-received that it has become a friendly competition to see who has the best one each week. At the end of the day, a secret ballot vote is conducted and a winner is named. The office is even in the process of buying a trophy that will be passed around to each week’s bow tie champ.