Cook: Tom Cotton Out Of Touch With Arkansas Farmers

Tom Cotton is not only out of step with Arkansas, but he’s even out of step with Arkansas Republicans.  Cotton recklessly puts his own ambitions ahead of the needs of everyday Arkansans.

The reference above is a line of attack Senator Mark Pryor uses against his opponent, and today Cotton made that particular argument against him even easier to make.

On Wednesday, Congressman Tom Cotton was the only member of Arkansas’ federal delegation to vote against the bi-partisan Farm Bill.

Not only did the other Republican members of the federal delegation vote for the Farm Bill, but some of them publicly praised the bill, thus putting Cotton further out of the mainstream.

Republican Congressman Rick Crawford took to Twitter to express his support for the Farm Bill and how it helps Arkansas farmers:

A 5-year #farmbill provides a safety net for Arkansas ag producers and deploys investments and jobs across the state.

Crawford also posted a YouTube of his speech from the House floor calling for a “yes” vote on the Farm Bill.

Senator John Boozman also tweeted his support for the passage of the Farm Bill.

But Tom Cotton couldn’t vote yes on the Farm Bill because his political benefactors, like the Club for Growth, opposed it and Cotton needs their financial support in order to win. They did after all get Cotton elected to Congress in the first place by heavily funding his campaign.

Cotton’s story for voting against the Farm Bill was that it didn’t cut the food stamps program, SNAP, enough for his taste even though the new bill slashes the program by $8 billion.

Tom Cotton’s vote today against the Farm Bill is a political windfall for Mark Pryor. Pryor can use Cotton’s second vote against the Farm Bill with Arkansas’s powerful agricultural industry. Pryor will make the case Cotton doesn’t have Arkansas’s back when it comes to supporting our agricultural industry.

Don’t forget, agricultural is a major industry in our state, contributing $16 billion to our economy annually.

Cotton now must spend months explaining to agri-leaders why he was the only Arkansas Congressman to vote against the Farm Bill. Watch Cotton dance around trying to explain to farmers that while Rick Crawford, Tim Griffin, Steve Womack and John Boozman all voted for the Farm Bill, he voted against it.

Tom Cotton now must play defense at a time when he should be playing offense.

Cotton knows that in order to keep his special interest benefactors happy he hurt himself politically. This may explain why Cotton’s office sent ethically questionable taxpayer funded mailers to defend himself on his Farm Bill vote. Don’t be surprised if Cotton does more of this to stop the political bleeding.

Mark Pryor’s statement on Cotton’s vote on the Farm Bill nicely sums it all up:

“In voting against the farm bill, Congressman Cotton once again sided with his special interest allies, the same Washington groups spending millions on his campaign that urged him to oppose the farm bill. It’s reckless and irresponsible for Congressman Cotton to put his own ambitions ahead of what’s best for Arkansans, and the people of our state deserve better.”