Arkansas Congressional delegation chairing 4 key committees
Arkansas’ all-GOP Congressional delegation will wield a lot of influence in the 119th Congress. Arkansas’ two U.S. Senators will chair influential standing committees, while two of the state’s four Congressmen will chair panels with broad reach.
With Republicans in charge of both chambers of Congress and the White House, four of six Arkansas Congressional leaders serving as chairmen will bring attention and power to the state’s members.
U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark. has been selected to chair the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. Ironically, he is the first chairman of this committee since Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., held the gavel before Boozman defeated her in 2010.
Boozman also serves on the Committee on Appropriations, Committee on Environment and Public Works, Committee on Rules and Administration, and Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., first elected to the Senate in 2014 after one term in the U.S. House, will serve as chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, one of the most important panels for national security. Cotton takes over from Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., as chairman.
The Intelligence Committee oversees the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, as well as the intelligence-related components of the Department of State, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of the Treasury, and Department of Energy.
Cotton also serves on the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and the Joint Economic Committee.
As head of the Intelligence Committee, Cotton will be part of the Gang of Eight, which includes the leaders of each of the two parties from both the Senate and House of Representatives, and the chairs and ranking minority members of both the Senate Committee and House Committee for intelligence. They are among the first Congressional leaders briefed on national security developments by the President and executive branch authorities.
Brad Howard, Democratic consultant with D.C.-based Corcoran Street Group, says Cotton’s recent elevation to the post is extremely important.
“Tom Cotton has always come from more of the academic approach to legislating. He’s got a very strong vision on foreign policy that has aligned with President Trump’s. I think he’ll be a staunch ally for President Trump in his ‘America First’ foreign policy engagement,” said Howard, who appeared on this week’s Talk Business & Politics and Capitol View TV programs.
With Trump discussing potential changes in foreign policy with Ukraine, Greenland, Panama, Canada and Mexico, Cotton will likely have outsized influence in shaping American policy.
“Keep in mind, the Intelligence chairman is a very big deal. It’s the Gang of Eight. So anytime the President incurs or starts a foreign incursion, it triggers a notification to Congress. Tom Cotton, as the part of the Gang of Eight, now he’s one of the ones that will be notified immediately before the action takes place,” said Howard. “It’s a pretty big role.”
In the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, retains his role as chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. This panel has a broad range of interests, including forestry, fisheries and wildlife, interstate compacts, water supply, interior and Native American affairs, federal parklands, mineral and mining resources, and oil and pipeline projects.
The Trump administration has a plethora of agenda items that will focus on some of these areas, including the recent wildfires in California, drilling on federal lands and offshore waters, and restarting the Keystone Pipeline project.
U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock, was tapped to lead the House Financial Services Committee, a board that has broad jurisdiction over the nation’s banking system, credit cards, interest rates, and cryptocurrency, another area of interest where President-elect Trump plans to be active.
Howard, who has worked in several roles for Democratic Congressmen, including Arkansas’ Mike Ross, said Hill’s background as a banker and his reputation in Congress as a collaborator, will make him very influential as a leader of this panel.
“Financial services impacts nearly every American in everything they do, from banking to lending to credit cards, etc. They kind of have the policy and the jurisdiction of writing legislation around those issues. And all of those have to go through his committee now,” said Howard.
“The Republicans have campaigned on maintaining regular order, so he’s going to have an influence on pretty much everything related to the financial system that you can think of, including cryptocurrency and Bitcoin legislation,” added Howard. “That’s something Elon Musk and Donald Trump are very interested in.
“French Hill is a very serious legislator, very deliberate. He’s not one to grab headlines a lot. He puts his nose down, he works hard, and we worked with him a lot when I was chief of staff to Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, a Democrat out of Florida. We did a lot of work together on the Entrepreneur’s Caucus trying to pave the way for small business owners and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and to start one,” said Howard. “He is a very collaborative leader.”
While they won’t be chairing overall committees, thanks to their seniority, Arkansas’ other two Congressmen – U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers – will still have influence, especially on subcommittees that do heavy lifting on legislation.
Crawford serves on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House Committee on Agriculture; and on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Womack remains on the powerful House Committee on Appropriations.
Both Crawford and Womack were first elected to Congress in 2010.
You can watch Howard’s full interview in the video below.