Congressional Recap: Budget, Foreign Policy Debates Cover Week

This week, lawmakers in the nation’s capital dealt with everything from budgets and environmental issues to foreign policy in Iran, Afghanistan and Africa.

The following was the week that was for the state’s congressional delegation:

HILL APPOINTED TO TERRORISM TASK FORCE
A task force looking into the financing of terrorist groups around the world will include a representative for the state of Arkansas.

Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock, was appointed Monday to serve on the House Financial Services Committee Terrorism Financing Task Force.

The group’s goal is multi-faceted, Hill said.

“With the growing threat of ISIL and other terror networks, we need to do everything in our power to cripple the efforts of those seeking to harm America. Along with military and diplomatic strategies, it is essential we shut down the economic backing of ISIL and other terrorist organizations around the world,” Hill said. “For too long, the financiers and sympathizers of terrorist groups have hidden deep in the fabric of global business, financial, and nonprofit networks. This task force will identify the ways and means to infiltrate and eliminate these dangerous groups as we continue our war against terrorism. I am pleased to serve with my colleagues in this bipartisan undertaking, and I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for recognizing the critical financial challenges of the global war on terrorism.”

WESTERMAN, HILL DISCUSS BUDGET
A congressional budget was first approved Thursday night in the House. The House voted 228-199 to approve the budget.

Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, said the bill will help control spending.

“I am pleased to have represented the 4th District and Arkansas on the House Budget Committee. This budget balances in nine years, produces trillions in savings, increases defense spending, and enacts workforce requirements for able-bodied, working age adults receiving government assistance,” Westerman said. “By approving this budget, the House has sent a clear message that the days of reckless spending in Washington are numbered. It is my hope that the Senate can quickly pass a budget and both chambers can swiftly move through reconciliation.”

Hill said he was appreciative of the bill working to reform Medicare.

“By repealing and replacing the Sustainable Growth Rate, for the first time in a long time, we are fixing Medicare in a bipartisan way so that it’s finally fair to patients, physicians, and the taxpayer. I thank leadership on both sides of the aisle for making this historic entitlement reform a reality, and I ask the Senate to swiftly move this common sense bill so we can make Medicare sustainable for generations to come.”

BOOZMAN, COTTON TALK BUDGET
The Senate voted 52-46 early Friday to approve a federal budget for fiscal year 2017. Both Boozman and Cotton said the budget provides a strong case for moving forward.

“The budget resolution we passed this morning reaffirms our commitment to reining in Washington’s reckless spending. It balances the federal budget in ten years, without raising taxes, while strengthening our national defense and creating economic growth and opportunity for hardworking Arkansans,” Boozman said.

Cotton said the budget provides help for issues in the state.

“I was pleased the final resolution included two amendments I offered that are particularly important to Arkansas. The first amendment will improve prevention and treatment measures to better mitigate the impact of virus outbreaks, such as the avian flu, on Arkansas agriculture industry. The second amendment requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider the total potential economic impact of any new critical habitat designation,” Cotton said.

COTTON TALKS IRAN’S LEADER
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Monday took to the Senate floor to discuss Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamanei and the Middle Eastern country’s ties to human rights abuses and terrorism.

“Let’s be clear about one thing: Iranians who ‘speak up’ tend to disappear into secret prisons or wind up hanging from a crane by the neck. Worse, by acting as if public opinion matters to the ayatollahs, President Obama is treating Iran as if it were a legitimate democracy, not a brutal, theocratic dictatorship,” Cotton said of ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran on nuclear weapons. “No president should legitimize such a regime, which only emboldens the dictator and undermines the Iranian people struggling under his yoke.”

Cotton also focused on the national security threat from Iran.

“Let’s consider what he said about these negotiations in this light. The ayatollah emphasized, ‘We are absolutely not negotiating or holding discussions with the Americans over regional or domestic issues and neither over weapons capabilities.’ He’s absolutely right. Iran has a ballistic-missile program, which it only needs if it wants to strike the United States or our European allies, because it already has missiles capable of striking Israel or anywhere else in the Middle East,” Cotton said. “Yet we’ve removed its missile program from the negotiating table. Just like we’ve removed the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program from the table, even though that’s critical to understanding how far they’ve progressed toward a bomb.”

BOOZMAN: RULE ‘HUGE POWER GRAB’
A Senate hearing Tuesday morning had a certain Arkansas feel as the state’s Attorney General, Leslie Rutledge, spoke about a proposed rule by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Rutledge spoke to the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee about the “Waters of the United States” proposed rule.

Rutledge said the proposed rule would have a detriment to Arkansas farmers as well as residents. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., who also serves on the committee, called it a “huge power grab.”

But environmental groups stressed their opposition to the opinions. Read our previous coverage at this link.

WOMACK: VISIT FROM AFGHAN PRESIDENT A REMINDER
Congressman Steve Womack, R-Rogers, released a statement in response to an address from Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani to a joint session of Congress.

“President Ghani reminded us that freedom is in fact not free, and I appreciate his humbling gratitude for the sacrifices we have already made and the American lives we have already lost. They are too great to turn our back on a free Afghanistan,” Womack said. “We must continue to provide Afghanistan the support it needs to continue its fight against radical Islam and for a unified government and humanitarian reform. I am encouraged that President Obama has agreed to maintain current troop levels in Afghanistan this year. As we look towards 2016, I hope drawdown decisions will continue to be based on need, rather than deadlines.”

BOOZMAN HEARS FROM FORD, AFFLECK, GATES ON FOREIGN AID
The former CEO of Alltel Corp. spoke Thursday to a Senate appropriations subcommittee Thursday about “Diplomacy, Development and National Security.”

Scott Ford, who now runs Little Rock private investment firm Westrock Group LLC, testified to the committee on which Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., serves. Ford told senators about his work to help develop a coffee company in East Africa. Ford also spoke about conversations he had with leaders in Rwanda.

“In 2004, after being involved in post-genocidal charity work for a few years, and while still CEO of Alltel Corporation, I took my three sons to visit Rwanda. While there, I had the opportunity to spend considerable time with President Paul Kagame. I discovered we were like-minded in our view that the free market system of open, competitive trade is the only system that offers sustainable economic hope – along with personal dignity – to those most deeply mired in poverty,” Ford said.

Movie star and director Ben Affleck and former Microsoft founder Bill Gates also discussed African aid with the panel. Read more here.