Congressional Digest: Boozman Co-Sponsors Cuba Travel Bill, Cotton Discusses Iran

BOOZMAN CO-SPONSORS CUBA TRAVEL BILL
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., on Thursday joined a bipartisan group of colleagues to introduce legislation that would end restrictions on travel to Cuba imposed on American citizens and legal residents.

Boozman is sponsoring the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2015 with several other senators.

The bill would aim to legislatively address the Obama Administration’s proposal to loosen travel restrictions to Cuba and remove restrictions on banking transactions incidental to travel.

Boozman was also named Wednesday as the chairman of a key Agriculture subcommittee.

Boozman will serve as the Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Commodities, Markets, Trade and Risk Management.

The subcommittee has jurisdiction over several issues including the production of agricultural crops, agricultural trade and foreign market development, Boozman’s office said.

COTTON ON IRAN
In a guest column this week in the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called recent negotiations by the Obama administration with Iran over nuclear weapons a “dangerous series of unending concessions.”

In the column, called “As the Iranian Nuclear Talks Drag on, Congress Must Act, Cotton said the discussions are dangerous at best.

“Our negotiating “partner,” Iran, is not a rational or peaceful actor; it is a radical, Islamist tyranny whose constitution explicitly calls for jihad. Iran’s ayatollahs have honored the call: Iran has been killing Americans for more than three decades. In 1983, Iran helped finance and direct the bombing of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, killing hundreds of American military, diplomatic and intelligence personnel,” Cotton, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. “Iran has also been implicated in the 1996 Khobar Tower bombings, which killed 19 American troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. More recently and personally for me, Iran has been responsible for the killing and maiming of thousands of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. During my tour in Baghdad leading an infantry platoon, Iran supplied the most advanced, most lethal roadside bombs used against coalition forces. My soldiers and I knew that Iranian-supplied bombs were the one thing our armored vehicles couldn’t withstand. All we could do was hope it wasn’t our day to hit one. My platoon was lucky; too many others were not.”

CRAWFORD COLUMN
In his weekly column, Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, said while it is sometimes hard to get the message out, his party has been successful in passing bills so far this session of Congress.

“In the age of the Internet, everyone who wants to tell a story only has to start typing. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many other social media platforms and news sites provide an instant microphone to world for their users,” Crawford said in the column.

“Sometimes these stories go viral, reaching hundreds of millions of people within days. Others are posted and never noticed by anyone, so their voice is drowned by the constantly shifting seas of electronic information. To be noticed, much less listened to, requires either sheer luck or a constant, consistent voice. Sometimes it is a combination of both. Some stories die while others blossom, but that fact leaves so many voices, ideas, and opinions unheard. The stories that explode across the Internet and news stations constitute the fabric of our weekly news, and ultimately, our history, while what stays unheard remains unknown, often forever. Because so much is left out, an uneven or skewed picture of events emerges.”

“It’s always easy to focus on the negative, and what isn’t getting done, so the good sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Like an unnoticed post on social media, the positive work being done often doesn’t get attention. In the past month the House has passed many well-crafted bills that help the economy and the American people as a whole,” Crawford said, citing bills on the Keystone XL pipeline, supporting the hiring of veterans and human trafficking as examples.

KEYSTONE REACTION
The state’s U.S. Senators also responded Thursday to the passage of a bill on the Keystone XL pipeline project.

The Senate voted 62-36 to approve Senate Bill 1.

“The Keystone pipeline has been greenlighted in study after study. We’ve had a multiple debates on it in this body alone, including the lengthy spirited debate that led to passage of this bill. And yet the President is still looking for ways to stop it. The support is here in Congress. More importantly the support is there with the American people. I encourage the President to join with us to get this project moving, instead of being the one to hold it back,” Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called the project a “win for Arkansas.”

“The fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline is now in President Obama’s hands. After six years of delays and veto threats, Arkansans and Americans are rightly tired of his weak excuses. It’s time the President put workers and families first. He should sign this bill immediately and approve the Keystone XL Pipeline,” Cotton said.

TURNER GRAIN DELAY REQUESTED
The state’s congressional delegation on Thursday asked Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to extend the loan repayment date for farmers impacted by the collapse of a grain company last year.

In a letter, the delegation asked Vilsack to extend the date for farmers impacted by the collapse of Turner Grain until bankruptcy proceedings are completed.

The Commodity Credit Corporation extended loan repayment dates for farmers impacted by the collapse of Turner Grain last fall.

The repayment extension is set to expire for farmers during the week of February 1, 2015, lawmakers said in the letter.

“Given that losses may be as high as $50 million, the situation has the potential to be devastating to Arkansas, where one out of every six jobs is tied to agriculture. For these reasons, we respectfully request that the Farm Service Agency (FSA) extend the CCC loan repayment date for those farmers awaiting payment from Turner Grain until bankruptcy proceedings are completed,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter.

Turner Grain defaulted on its contracts to farmers last August. In October, the company filed for bankruptcy.

HILL TOUTS ENERGY BILL
Cong. French Hill, R-Little Rock, expressed support for a resolution that would eliminate U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) delays to approving liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects. H.R. 351 passed 277-133 on Wednesday.

“Increasing U.S. LNG exports will benefit our allies by adding a new, reliable source of energy to the global market and boost Arkansas’s economy through job creation, especially in engineering, manufacturing, and construction. It is time for America to lead the world in energy production and exports. I will continue to support legislation that boosts our goal of North American energy independence and benefits consumers and our national security interests,” Hill said.

H.R. 351 places a 30-day deadline on DOE to issue a final decision on applications following the conclusion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental review of LNG facilities. Citing an American Petroleum Institute analysis, Hill said reports have shown that exporting natural gas will create over 18,000 jobs in Arkansas and contribute over $3 billion to Arkansas’s economy.

WESTERMAN SPONSORS JERUSALEM EMBASSY ACT
Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, also co-sponsored a bill this week to have the Israeli embassy in in Jerusalem.

The bill is House Resolution 114, the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 2015.

Westerman said Thursday that the bill would help recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“As the center of government in America’s oldest ally in the region, it only makes sense to have our embassy located in Jerusalem. Furthermore, placing our embassy in Jerusalem will tell the Israeli people, the American people and the rest of the world that we continue to stand with Israel,” Westerman said in a statement.

Under current law, the embassy should be in Jerusalem, but the president has the authority to waive the stated location every six months. The bill would remove the president’s waiver authority, Westerman said.