U.S. Rep. Womack: 3rd District transportation, housing needs are ‘big focus’

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, is the chairman of the powerful Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) subcommittee of the House Appropriations panel. In that role, Womack will have tremendous influence over spending priorities for the nation’s transportation and housing spending — two areas he contends are crucial to sustain growth throughout the 3rd District.

In an interview with Talk Business & Politics and Capitol View to air this weekend, Womack said he will obviously advocate for his district, but the infrastructure needs are easily justifiable.

“I’m uniquely aware of the needs of Northwest Arkansas,” Womack said. “And now look, I’m a big return on investment guy. I don’t necessarily believe that we should be throwing transportation dollars into an area just because it’s a good thing to do. I think we ought to throw transportation dollars into areas, particularly in a constrained resource environment, where we can get the best return on the investment. That’s what taxpayers want.

“I don’t think there’s any better example of how if you can build the roads and the bridge infrastructure and the drainage infrastructure and if you can improve airport activity in an area like a Northwest Arkansas, that you’re going to increase the economic output of that particular area. No question about that. So the answer is yes, as chairman, I’m going to do everything I can to steer as much as I can back to my district because I have the capacity to do so.”

Womack mentioned road needs that included Highway 412 from Tontitown towards Springdale, a heavily congested traffic area. He also said that Interstate 49 in the Fort Smith metro from Alma to Barling and across the Arkansas River is a high priority project.

“It’s a very expensive project,” he said. “If you can front-load that money and get those projects built sooner than later, think of the boom that will happen in the Arkansas River Valley area. So these are all important to me. They’re in my district. I should be advocating for them. I know of those projects, and I’m going to do everything I can to help fund them.”

Womack also indicated that as chairman of THUD, he will focus on the Federal Aviation Authority and making sure the nation’s skyways are made safer. There have been several airplane accidents since January, including a deadly jet-helicopter crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

“We know we’ve had some troubled times here recently, and with investigations going on about major aircraft incidents, including one at Reagan National Airport, the impact of aviation safety is critical to the economic vitality of our country,” Womack said. “Helping the Federal Aviation Administration better hire air traffic controllers, that’s one critical component, but also the modernization of the air traffic control systems that help keep our skies safe is a vital importance as well.”

Housing is another crucial component of Womack’s subcommittee, and he said with the affordable housing crisis plaguing Northwest Arkansas and other parts of the state and nation, he will again use his chairmanship to affect positive change in the district and beyond.

“Nobody has to tell you or me that we have a real housing crisis going on in our society today,” Womack said. “It’s becoming more and more unaffordable. People are struggling to find a roof over their head. And so issues that involve that department (HUD) of the federal government are also critically important to me.

“We have to make sure that in high inflationary times, like we’re suffering through right now, and the unaffordability of housing it’s (important) to keep people in housing that currently have housing so that we’re not having people like the veterans’ community, the elderly community, those kind of folks that have limited means. For those people to be without housing would be very, very detrimental to this country. So those are my priorities today.”

In the remainder of his interview, which will air Sunday statewide, Womack also discussed the F-35 mission in Fort Smith, President Donald Trump’s handling of the Ukraine conflict, DOGE cuts to federal agencies, and problems with those cuts at the Veteran’s Administration.

Click here for air times. You can watch a preview of his comments in the video below.