French Hill

Pandemic Response
Across Arkansas and America, the effects of COVID-19 on families and businesses have been dramatic and devastating. This virus that has swept across the globe since January has disproportionately impacted our smaller towns and rural communities. Further, our hospitals and healthcare providers have been whipsawed between shutting down their profit-making operations and preparing for enormous spikes in COVID-19 patients. Both led to huge financial burdens.

I was proud to support four bills – all now laws – to combat the coronavirus and provide much-needed financial resources across our state and nation. I have worked in a bipartisan fashion to help rural communities receive direct funding to local hospitals and public schools through the passage of the CARES Act. The CARES Act also provided $100 million for high-speed Internet expansion in small towns and rural communities to ensure access to educational resources and economic opportunity. We still have gaps in Arkansas. I've spoken to teachers and superintendents about those gaps and how federal resources can be combined with state leadership and funding to prepare our schools for this fall.

Additionally, the CARES Act allocated over $200 million for Arkansas’s support of healthcare providers and patients using telehealth, which is a lifeline for many in Arkansas's rural communities. To help even further, Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) and I introduced the emergency COVID-19 Telehealth Response Act to expand telehealth availability for Arkansans needing important therapeutic services during the pandemic. My priority is giving our healthcare providers serving on the front lines of this public health crisis the tools they need of Arkansas healthy and safe and ultimately back to work. I also led a letter seeking fair reimbursements for firefighters, emergency medical service providers (EMS) and other medical first responders who have been called upon much more during the pandemic.

For our small businesses, I ensured that our small businesses could access the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) which was passed as part of the CARES Act. To date, the PPP program has facilitated over 40,000 Arkansas businesses getting nearly $3.4 billion and badly needed funding to get through the first weeks of the economic shutdown. Now, I continue to work with the Federal Reserve and Treasury to enhance our ability to get America's economy back up to full speed.

Congress’ ultimate goal in our pandemic response is to keep American families safe, deliver outstanding public health, and learn to live with the virus until we get quality treatments and ultimately a vaccine all while preparing for the future.

In response to the pandemic, in late March, I introduced the Securing America’s Vaccines for Emergencies (SAVE) Act. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the United States is too dependent upon other countries – including China – for the overwhelming portion of medical devices, ingredients for pharmaceuticals, and personal protective equipment – all of which the United States has desperately needed since the start of the year. This bill would amend the Defense Production Act to develop a presidential strategy diversify our supply chain to make the United States less dependent upon foreign manufacturers and bring key production capabilities back home to America.

I am working alongside my colleagues to support Governor Hutchinson and our Arkansas leaders in their response to the virus.

Jobs, Taxes & the Economy
When I ran for Congress in 2014, I committed to seeking solutions that lead to job creation and rising income and wages for hard-working Arkansans and Americans. As a business person and entrepreneur, I wanted to be a voice for faster economic growth. I wanted to bring my experience as a former chamber of commerce volunteer to Congress to champion skilled and vocational job creation and expand good training and career opportunities for all Arkansans.

As a former local business owner and community banker, I knew the limitations of our old, complex tax code and the burden it placed on our local economic growth. I knew the need for significant change which is why one of my first act as Congressman was to cosponsor the Tax Code Termination Act, which would repeal most of the former tax code and required Congress to have a new federal tax system in place. Our families, businesses, and auto manufacturers all wanted – and deserved – a tax code that’s not only fair and simple, but that also will spur economic development and growth. My purpose in cosponsoring the Tax Code Termination act was to see who would defend the status quo!

So, it was refreshing that in 2016, House Republicans outlined an approach to tax reform that would cut taxes for most Arkansas families and let 90% of Arkansans have a simpler method of filing during tax time. Also, we proposed an overhaul of business taxation, closed loopholes, broadened the base, and made the U.S. tax system internationally competitive. Also, importantly for our families, our tax revisions doubled the child tax credit and provided needed funds for healthcare and other family needs. With hard work in the U.S. Senate and support from the President in his first year, this major tax reform and simplification was signed into law on in December 2017. This reform is a vast improvement over the old code – that status quo – and has resulted in higher wages, new job creation, and more career opportunities. Companies are investing millions in new plants and equipment and bringing jobs back from overseas. Over the last three years our economy added 7 million new jobs, prior to the Covid19 pandemic.

January 2020 dawned with the best U.S. economy in 50 years. We had the lowest unemployment rate since Richard Nixon was president. We had the lowest unemployment rate recorded for Hispanics and African Americans. America was looking forward to 1.5 years of economic expansion. It was that same month that we learned that China was the set by an expanding novel coronavirus known as COVID – 19. That would change the outlook for the U.S. job market and the economy. Fortunately, we entered the year with an outstanding economic growth rate, strong financial institutions a well-trained workforce and a talented team at the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve. It's that strong financial underpinning with actions taken by Congress that will beat the virus’s economic effect and return America to economic growth in the coming months.

Encouraging Work
Over the past three years, with the benefits of right-sized regulatory reforms, the tax cuts, and restructuring of our tax system in the 2017, jobs were being created and our economy was heavily in need of well-trained motivated workers. Record low unemployment in Arkansas resulted in the need for new strategies to enhance our workforce.

In 2015, I founded the Congressional Skilled American Workforce Caucus, for which I serve as Co-Chair. In my work with this Caucus, I have found that we need to encourage students to stay in school and graduate. I support skills-training initiatives that benefit high school students and high school graduates, who don't believe that a four-year college degree is right for them straight out of high school. Those students need to get more skills and the opportunity for training in order to fill the job openings in Arkansas.

We also need those mid-career men and women who feel stuck in their current opportunity to have the opportunity to learn new skills and successfully shift their career goals. For example, I met a former homebuilder who wanted a career restart following the 2008 recession. He is now a radiation technologist with a major healthcare system, and his two paid apprenticeships and additional training allowed him to make that change while earning important income for his family.

I support public assistance policies that encourage work during the transition from dependence to independence because it provides an income and it facilitates dignity through work. Solid work requirements for all able-bodied people on welfare will lift people out of poverty. This is been proven time and time again.

For those transitioning out of incarceration, it's not enough just to give them a change of clothes, a bus ticket, and some cash. Ex-offenders need transitional housing and skills development as well as support for any addiction-related challenges that they face. The President has lead in this area by signing the First Step Act into law. This important criminal justice reform law creates a process for every federal parolee to get the job skills and set transitional plans before they shift back to society.

Arkansas has had many leaders in this important work before I ran for Congress in 2014. I was inspired by the leadership of then-President Fitz Hill at the historically black college in central Arkansas, Arkansas Baptist College. Dr. Hill showed me the tremendous work he was doing to help those parolees plan for a better life. I continue to engage and support policies in Congress that enhance the ability of HBCUs to support training and education programs. In each Congress I've introduced the Shift Back to Society Act, which encourages the Justice Department to support our HBCUs to help provide transitional education for those returning to the community from incarceration, and, for the past four years, this provision has been included in the annual funding bills.

Government Spending and Debt
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated our federal budget and our economy. COVID-19 will leave America with the largest government debt-to-GDP ratio since the end of World War II. At the end of World War II, the U.S. represented a majority of global output and were the envy of the world for our manufacturing talent and our prowess in leading the allies effort to defeat fascism. Today, our economy faces headwinds of the virus with no vaccine, and our country faces an increase in our national debt and an increased annual national deficit.

As we deal with the pandemic and bring our economy back to full capacity, Americans need to develop a consensus that the federal government needs to quit trying to fix everything with a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach and instead shift power back to state and local governments. Both before the pandemic and probably long after, the federal government has grown too large and spends too much when compared to our national income.

Each month I monitor the cases of the most egregious examples of wasteful government spending or poor management at the federal level. I reintroduced the "Golden Fleece" award to expose those egregious examples. Over the past six years, I have "awarded" over 50 fleeces for waste and mismanagement. I use each instance as a lesson in how the federal bureaucracy can do a better job of protecting our hard-earned tax dollars.

Ultimately, upon the return to economic growth to really get our spending under control, the United States must reform its mandatory spending programs, cut low-priority spending, and stop performing functions best left to state and local governments – or to the private sector. It will require a cultural change, in which the federal government is smaller, more efficient, and effective as well as a much less expensive and intrusive part of our families’ lives. Getting such a collective action for cultural change by a majority of Congress and the president is difficult. With two thirds of all annual federal spending being mandatory and thereby not subject to the congressional appropriations process – meaning that it happens each year without a congressional vote – citizens need to be aware of and educated on this critically important goal.

I have cosponsored two versions of balanced budget amendments to the U.S. Constitution to bring our spending in line. We must take the necessary steps to ensure that all taxpayer dollars are being used wisely, and we can no longer kick the can down the road on mandatory spending. The pandemic has driven this message home even more intensely. Our children and grandchildren depend on us to solve this growing debt problem and provide them a brighter future.

Social Security, Medicare and Financial Security
Social Security is a promise that the federal government has made to hard-working Arkansans, who have paid into the program and have earned these benefits. I am committed to strengthening Social Security for today's seniors and future beneficiaries. Further, I believe we must protect and strengthen Social Security, while eliminating fraud and abuse in this program

The 2020 annual report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds estimated that Social Security Retirement Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2035. Congress must do more to effectively reform Social Security, prevent unprecedented cuts to benefits and ensure that Social Security beneficiaries receive the benefits they have earned and paid in.

I have introduced the Social Security Disability Insurance Return to Work Act, which would modernize the Social Security Administration's classification of disability beneficiaries. The bill incentivizes returning to work for beneficiaries who have recovered from their disability such as an illness. According to the Congressional Research Service, the unemployment rate among working-age individuals with work-limiting disabilities has fallen from 24.4% in 1981 to 14.4% in 2013. In other words, compared to 30 years ago, a disability beneficiary is half as likely to return to work even if they have recovered and are able to go back to work. Likewise, in 2013, a fraction -- only 0.4% -- of all disability beneficiaries stopped receiving benefits because they returned to work. Due to the low return to work rate, it is essential that Congress act to implement an efficient, consistent and accurate disability determination in order to encourage return to work and save taxpayer dollars. I am committed to looking for other long-term solutions, and I will work with my colleagues to institute common sense, bipartisan solutions to ensure the availability of the central Social Security benefit for seniors and disabled individuals both now and in the future.

Healthcare
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), or “Obamacare,” that passed in 2011 was more than just a malfunctioning website. Big government, "one size fits all" $2.2 trillion solutions simply do not work in our large, complex country. Overly broad statutes have way too many unintended consequences. The ACA harmed and continues to harm Americans by limiting their choices, increasing healthcare costs and raising taxes on hard-working families and businesses. It also chipped away at the critical physician / patient relationship. During my years in Congress, I have consistently argued to replace the ACA with badly needed reforms that will increase choice and lower healthcare costs for all Arkansans while preserving access to full coverage for those Arkansans with pre-existing conditions.

President Obama promised us that “if you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it” and that our insurance premiums would fall and healthcare access would improve. None of this was true, and in fact, the opposite happened. Time and time again over the past six years I've heard your complaints about plans that disappeared, increases in premiums, shockingly high deductibles leading to loss of healthcare coverage, and out-of-pocket costs that are out of reach for many families across the nation and especially in Arkansas.

For years, the Democrats led by now Speaker Nancy Pelosi have refused to work with Republicans to generate bipartisan solutions to these challenges. Our healthcare system faces serious problems; we need targeted, surgical, and carefully considered reforms that acknowledge the complexity of our healthcare system. I have repeatedly voted to repeal this broken healthcare law and start over with those reforms that actually lower healthcare costs, protect pre-existing conditions, and improve access for Arkansas families. Despite Nancy Pelosi's opposition, I will not defend the status quo. Our families deserve better.

Now, Speaker Pelosi and the Washington Democrats aren’t even considering reforms or Republican ideas. Instead, many in their party are pushing for something called “Medicare for All” which will result in rising medical costs, fewer doctors, and longer wait times as we have seen in England and other nations that have implemented this system.

During my time in Congress I have worked hard to support healthcare particularly for our kids and in our rural areas and for our families that lack access to care. In 2018, Congress reauthorized the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years. As a former member of the Board of Directors of Arkansas Children's Hospital, I know the benefits of this important program for our families. CHIP is strongly supported by a bipartisan majority and by me. Likewise, access to care in our rural areas and for our families that have a hard time accessing care is greatly benefited by the community health centers. Arkansas has over 100 community health centers. They do a terrific job providing primary care particularly for moms including prenatal care. They have been at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, and I have long supported their efforts and serve on the Congressional Community Health Center Caucus. We are all grateful for their staffs and efforts.

Education
Like our healthcare system, changes are needed in the American education system. I believe the lack of equal access to a quality education is the civil rights issue of our day, and we must demand success, accountability, and results in every classroom. Some of these key approaches were included in the Every Student Succeeds Act that was signed into law in 2015.

I also believe that the COVID-19 has exposed our weak distribution of Internet and broadband capabilities for both students and teachers. I continue to support funding and policy changes to enhance Arkansas’s ability to expand access.

I believe strongly that all of our children – those college-bound and those that will begin their career directly after high school – need quality direction and curriculum that helps prepare them for their "pursuit of happiness". That's why I'm so pleased to promote policies that encourage concurrent credit and skilled workforce programs – two strategies that better prepare our young people, increase the affordability of education, and build the talent that we need for our state’s future economy.

Central Arkansas examples of terrific concurrent credit and workforce skills training provided in a great learning environment include schools in Conway, Greenbrier, and North Little Rock. I'm also delighted to see that all of the school districts in Pulaski County have banded together to rollout the Ford Next Generation Learning program. Saline County has a workforce education campus being built that will partner with of all the school districts in the county. These are great local initiatives. I'm pleased that federal education policies facilitate this kind of local leadership and creativity.

Many students and their families find that the traditional public school is not for them and they are attracted to a public charter school or homeschooling. This kind of school choice innovation is well-established in Arkansas and thousands of students, particularly low-income students are benefited by these important choices.

As Vice Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Caucus, I have worked to develop the necessary resources for our HBCU’s use to grow and prosper. We are blessed in central Arkansas to have three HBCUs helping train young people for the jobs of tomorrow, Philander Smith, Arkansas Baptist College and Shorter College. I organized the first HBCU Summit held in central Arkansas on April 13, 2019. Held at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock, more than 75 participants attended the summit including Jonathan Holifield, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Dr. Michael Lomax, President and CEO, United Negro College Fund; Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr.; and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson. In addition, representatives from Arkansas’s four HBCU’s attended the summit to discuss the long-term sustainability and growth of Arkansas’s HBCUs.

National Security
Protecting the people of Arkansas by ensuring we have a strong national security is one of my top priorities in Congress. The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is one of the most bipartisan bills we ever consider in Congress. It has been signed into law for 59 straight years, and I have supported its passage every year I have been in Congress.

It is also an honor to represent the men and women of the U.S. Air Force who serve at Little Rock Air Force Base (LRAFB). Central Arkansas is also the headquarters of the Arkansas National Guard. In 2015, a National Guard intelligence unit on LRAFB was being moved to Ft. Smith. I helped secure the Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility (SCIF) building on LRAFB with the help of Arkansas’s Congressional Delegation, the Air National Guard, and the U.S. Air Force thereby retaining a mission and personnel at LRAFB. This 10,000 square foot facility is currently a cyber training squadron with room to grow into an operational unit. Reforming the facility for use as a training unit saved millions of taxpayer dollars and makes central Arkansas more competitive in a growing cyber world.

In 2019, I was honored to be named the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy. In this capacity, I have worked in a bipartisan fashion to help ensure that the U.S. and global banking systems remain safe from terrorists, drug cartels, and rogue states, like Iran, Russia, and North Korea. By better understanding how these bad actors move their money around the world, we give our law enforcement and intelligence agencies the tools they need to stop the financing of these nefarious actors.

Veterans
Another top priority for me during my time in Congress is supporting our nation’s veterans to ensure they receive the benefits and healthcare they have earned and deserved. From day one, I have had combat veterans on my team in Arkansas to ensure that my work on behalf of Arkansas’s veterans is being done by another service member who has been in their shoes. I am proud to have four veterans on my team – including two currently serving with the Arkansas National Guard – and during my six years have proudly employed seven veterans, including two female veterans.

I have the largest veterans casework team in Arkansas, and our work on behalf of Arkansas’s veterans is second-to-none. My veterans team and I have closed more than two thousand cases for central Arkansas veterans and recovered over $20 million -- $5 million 2019 alone -- in back pay and earned benefits for Arkansas’s veterans from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Further, we have been able to obtain nearly 150 lost or missing military medals back service members and families, including four Silver Stars for a helicopter crew that had risked their life to rescue the crew of a downed C-130 during the Vietnam War.

I also was able to obtain for the family of Pvt. Leroy Johnston medals deserved but denied dating back to World War I. Because of racial inequities, Pvt. Johnston’s military records were doctored and he was not awarded the medals he had earned. After this success, I introduced a bill to require a review of the records of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, Jewish American, and Native American war veterans who appeared to have been denied recognition due to discrimination. The World War I Valor Medals Review Act – now law – will have a tremendous impact on the lives of the descendants of service member wrongly denied their due recognition.

I also have supported numerous bills, including the VA Accountability Act and the VA MISSION Act, to improve care for veterans, provide the VA Secretary with sweeping new authority to fire corrupt or incompetent employees for cause, recoup bonuses, and hold employees accountable for their actions. We have also worked to enact into law important policies that reform construction project management at the VA and funding that will help to improve the appeals process for VA claims, offer more education opportunities for veterans, and address the backlog of disability claims for our nation’s heroes. Working with and for Arkansas’s veterans has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my work serving you in the People’s House.

Also, it has been an honor to vote for bills – now laws – long-fought for by our veterans community including fixing the Widow’s Tax, to ensure that the widows of veterans who died from service connected conditions do not have their survivor benefits taxed, and extending benefits to additional Blue Water Vietnam Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange during their service in Vietnam.

Homeland Security and Immigration Reforms
Border security has always been an important issue for Arkansans, and I made it a priority from day one to see our southern border firsthand to learn about its complex challenges. This is why I have been to the border six times in my five years in Congress, and I have visited a different part of the border each time. I learned that because each sector along the border is unique in geography, economy, and traditions, we must design coordinated, effective physical security, including a wall, fencing, sophisticated technology, and combine that with robust customs and border patrol manpower. Together, we can have a successful long-term secure border.

Our immigration system is broken, and I will continue to support immigration proposals that include strong funding for border security; a merit-based immigration system; improving our visa system; and, establishing employment verification systems. America is a nation of immigrants, and many of our country’s most successful businesses are run by first- and second-generation immigrants. My happiest occasions as your Congressman are when I’ve spoken at U.S. naturalization ceremonies in Arkansas and have had the opportunity to welcome these new Americans to their country and congratulate their families. I am moved by the trials and tribulations of those new Americans who came to our country the right way, through a long and arduous legal process, and for them, I will continue to push for reform in our immigration system and support legal immigration.

Conservation and our National Parks
For five decades I have been an avid outdoorsman and believe that we must protect our public lands, such as national parks and wilderness, so that her future generations can learn about our nation's history and see the beauty of our extraordinary country.

I had this in mind when I introduced H.R. 2611, the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Boundary Modification Act, which exemplifies my commitment to history, preservation, and conservation. I was joined in sponsoring this important measure by the House and Senate Arkansas delegation and my friend, civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis (D-GA). The bill passed by unanimous consent in the House and Senate and was signed into law by the president. This measure expands the National Historic Site designation to the houses across the street from Central High School because of the importance of the streetscape in the events that unfolded in September 1957. Already, this bill is helping to preserve these homes to ensure they will forever stand is a living monument to the Little Rock Nine’s brave actions to integrate Central High School.

In 2018, I successfully drafted and passed legislation that expanded the Flatside Wilderness Area located in Perry County. My goal was to make the area more accessible to visitors and to ensure the Flatside Wilderness remains an integral part of what makes Arkansas the “Natural State”. President Trump signed my Flatside Wilderness Act into law on January 10, 2019. In the act, I named the 640-acre addition for former second congressional district Congressman Ed Bethune, a distinguished conservationist and the legislative father of the original Flatside Wilderness Act, which was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. The act also initiated a study by the U.S. Forest Service of approximately 2,000 acres adjoining the Flatside Wilderness to determine if these qualify for inclusion as well.

I was proud to be an original cosponsor on the land and water conservation fund (LWCF) legislation that improves public lands management, protects cherished landscapes, and increases public access for recreation while protecting private property rights. This bill also included a permanent reauthorization of the LWCF. It was signed into law on March 12, 2019.

Also, I was very pleased to be an original cosponsor of the Restore our Parks and Public Lands Act, which will reduce the maintenance backlog of the National Park Service and ensure our National Parks remain attractive places for all Americans to visit. This bill was included as a part of the Great American Outdoors Act, which has passed the Senate, and will come back to the House for approval in July.

China
China under the leadership of Communist party leader and authoritarian Xi Jinping has the goal of being the leading economic and military power in the world. We’ve seen this with its aggressive expansion in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and China has consistently increased its military budget since Xi took power in 2013. China’s history of intellectual property theft from American businesses and the American military has been well documented for several decades, and China’s “one belt, one road” initiative takes advantage of developing nations by offering financial opportunities with caveats that require the host nation to pledge or give up things like rights to critical natural resources or strategic locations. We’ve seen these “debt traps” in Africa, SE Asia, and even in our own backyard in South America.

Over the past three decades, the United States and our allies around the world have given the Communists in China plenty of opportunities to be a constructive participant in the world order, but frankly, we’ve seen that China has no desire to follow these norms. This was proven true with the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus. We will never know how many lives would have not been lost around the world had China taken the outbreak of Coronavirus seriously from the beginning.

I have used my position as the Lead Republican on the House Financial Services Subcommittee for National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy, to reign in some of China’s economic levers. The House passed my bill, the Ensuring Chinese Debt Transparency Act, which pushes for greater transparency of financing provided by China to another country through our international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund. This bill will allow developing countries greater transparency about the costs of doing business with China before they agree to financial help from the Communist government. Further, in response to the current pandemic, I have introduced the Securing America’s Vaccines for Emergencies (SAVE) Act, which would require the president to develop a strategy under the Defense Production Act to better secure the critical supply chains for our medicines, vaccines, personal protective equipment, and medical devices.

Finally, it’s becoming more apparent to the world that China is a pervasive abuser of human rights and religious freedom, the protection of which is a foundational principle of American foreign policy. It is in that regard that President Trump recently signed two bills into law related to this issue. The first, is the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which imposes sanctions on individuals responsible for human rights abuses against China’s Muslim Uyghur population. The video evidence of China putting Muslim Uyghurs on trains is shocking and the comparison to Nazi Germany putting Jews on trains during the Holocaust is undeniable. The second bill President Trump has signed into law is the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which imposes sanctions on those responsible for failing to preserve Hong Kong’s autonomy. President Trump has already used the power he was given in these bills to sanction Chinese companies and members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

It is important that now, more than ever, that we continue to work with our allies to hold the CCP accountable for its aggressive conduct while at the same time recognizing the critical need to engage the people of China.

Russia
Over the past four years, Americans have read must about Vladimir Putin and Russia and the threat to American elections. Putin is a bad actor, and Russia as a nuclear power is a distinct and destabilizing force in Western Europe and the Middle East. We've certainly witnessed that in the catastrophic Obama foreign policy errors of allowing Russian to invade the Ukraine, take over and occupy Crimea, and become an essential co-conspirator in the murder and mayhem occurring in Syria.

For our part, the United States has passed significant sanctions legislation including the Sergei Magninsky Act, which is named for a Moscow accountant killed by Putin in a corruption scandal. More than 50 individuals are designated under this law for human rights abuses and corruption. The success of this law being used against Russia is one reason I supported the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act in the 114th Congress. This bill applied the same sanctions penalties for human rights abuses and corruption across the globe.

Further, the Trump administration has levied sanctions against sectors of the Russian economy and key Russians in the Russian Federation. The United States has imposed sanctions related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine to nearly 700 individuals through the Countering Russian Influence in Europe and Eurasia Act, which I supported in 2017. We have also sanctioned Russian officials and the Russian intelligence agency for its malicious cyber activities, including interference in U.S. elections. We also have sanctioned Russia for propping up illegitimate and dictatorial regimes in Syria and Venezuela. The economic pressure that the United States is putting on Russia today is significant.

Given all that, it's essential that you understand that although Russia is one of the largest physical countries in the world occupying some 6.6 square million miles of territory, it remains a commodity-dependent, vulnerable country. Likewise Russia has a GDP that is roughly the same as Spain, which has a third the population, and a per capita GDP a quarter of Germany, which has half the population.

Moreover, the country is a demographic basket case with low life expectancy of age 66 for men and low birth rates.1 And, analysts expect that by 2040 the Russian national population will shrink below 120 million (compared to 141.7 million today) with ethnic Russians actually being only a tiny majority. This economic insecurity, increased global isolation, and demographic chaos accounts for Putin’s extreme aggression and intimidation of the border states that made up the former Soviet Union.

I believe the goals for any future relationship between the United States and Russia should include:

• Allied unity within NATO
• Resolution of the Syrian civil war and political crisis
• Resolution of the conflict of the Donbass region of Ukraine
• Honest engagement with the United States and China on arms-control issues
• Increased pressure on Putin and his regime through use of financial and economic sanctions

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Jobs, Taxes & the Economy
Across almost the entire political spectrum, Americans support reforming the tax code. A broken tax code affects all of us in Central Arkansas. When businesses suffer from a broken tax code that limits growth, it affects all of us. When I ran for Congress in 2014, I committed to seeking solutions that lead to job creation and rising income and wages for hardworking Americans. I am working to champion skilled and vocational job creation and expand good training and career opportunities for all Arkansans.

As a former local business owner and community banker, I know the limitations that our current tax code places on our local economic growth. I am committed to finding solutions to our tax code, which is why I co-sponsored H.R. 27, the Tax Code Termination Act, which would repeal most of our current tax code by the year 2020 and require Congress to have a new federal tax system in place by July 4, 2019. Our families, businesses, and entrepreneurs all want—and deserve—a tax code that is not only fair and simple, but one that will also spur economic development and growth. I wanted to see who would defend the status quo.

In 2016, House Republicans outlined an approach to tax reform that would cut taxes for most Arkansas families, and let nine out of ten Arkansans have a simpler method of filing during tax time. Also, we proposed an overhaul of business taxation to close loopholes, broaden the base, and make the U.S. tax system internationally competitive. Also, importantly, for our families our tax revisions doubled the child tax credit and provided needed funds for health care and other family needs. This has resulted in higher wages, new job creation and career opportunities, and companies investing millions in new plants and equipment in America and not overseas.

Encouraging Work
With the benefits of rightsized regulatory reforms and now the family tax cuts and restructuring of our tax system, our economy is growing and we need more people in the workforce. America still has the lowest labor force participation rate since the 1970’s. This means Americans age 25-54 aren’t working full time. Our great country needs these workers! The dignity of work is a core value for our families and a deep rooted part of our American culture.

We need to encourage students to stay in school and graduate. I support skilled training initiatives that benefit high school students and high school graduates, who don’t want to pursue a four-year college degree, but need to get more skills and apprenticeships to fill the job openings in Arkansas.

We need those mid-career men and women that feel stuck in their jobs to have the opportunities to learn new skills to successfully shift career goals. For example, I met a former homebuilder, who is now a radiation technologist with a major healthcare system. His two apprenticeships and additional training allowed him to make the change while being paid.

We need those on public assistance programs to have the chance to work as they transition from dependence to independence. Solid work requirements for all able-bodied people on welfare will lift people out of poverty.

We need transitional housing and skills development for those ex-offenders coming out of incarceration. I was pleased to see the President highlight this during his 2018 State of the Union speech. I’ve sponsored H.R. 799, the Shift Back to Society Act, which establishes a pilot program with historically black colleges and universities to provide education programs for offenders that are transitioning out of prison and back into the community.

Government Spending and Debt
Washington spending is out of control and bankrupting our country. The federal government needs to quit trying to fix everything with a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach and instead shift power back to state and local governments. Right now, the federal government is too big and spends too much. I have re-introduced the “Golden Fleece” award to expose the most outrageous wasteful government spending in Washington.

To get our spending under control, we must reform mandatory spending programs, cut low-priority spending, and stop performing functions best left to state and local governments or the private sector. We need a cultural change in which the federal government is a smaller, more efficient, effective, and a much less expensive and intrusive part of Americans’ lives. Getting collective action by a majority of Congress and the President is difficult. With two-thirds of all federal spending mandatory and not subject to the Congressional appropriations process, citizens need to be educated on this critically important goal.

While in Congress, I have co-sponsored two versions of balanced budget amendments to the U.S. Constitution to bring our spending in line. We must take the necessary steps to ensure that all taxpayer dollars are being used wisely, and we can no longer kick the can down the road on mandatory spending. Our children and grandchildren depend on us to solve our debt problem and give them a brighter future.

Social Security, Medicare and Financial Security
Social Security is a promise that the federal government has made to hardworking Arkansans, who have paid into the program and have earned these benefits. I am committed to strengthening Social Security for today’s seniors and future beneficiaries. Further, I believe we must protect and strengthen Social Security, while eliminating fraud and abuse in this program.

The 2016 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds estimated that the Social Security retirement trust fund will be exhausted by 2034. Congress must do more to effectively reform Social Security, prevent unprecedented cuts to benefits, and ensure that Social Security beneficiaries receive the benefits that they have earned and paid into.

In 2017, I introduced H.R. 1540, the Social Security Disability Insurance Return to Work Act, which would modernize the Social Security Administration’s classification of disability beneficiaries. The bill incentivizes returning to work for beneficiaries, who have recovered from their disability, such as an illness. According to the Congressional Research Service, the employment rate among working-age individuals with work-limiting disabilities has fallen from 24.4 percent in 1981 to 14.4 percent in 2013. Many disability beneficiaries are unlikely to return to work even if they have recovered and are ready to go back to work. In 2013, only 0.4 percent of all beneficiaries were removed from disability rolls due to re-employment. Due to the low return to work rates, it is essential that Congress act to implement an efficient, consistent, and accurate disability determination in order to encourage return to work and save taxpayer dollars.

I am committed to look for other long-term solutions, and I will work with my colleagues to institute common sense, bipartisan solutions to ensure the availability of essential Social Security benefits to seniors and disabled individuals both now and in the future.

Healthcare
Recently, the Congress reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years. As a former member of the board of directors of Arkansas Children’s Hospital, I know the benefits of this important program for our families. CHIP is strongly supported by a bipartisan majority and by me.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare was more than just a malfunctioning website. Big government, “one size fits all” $2.2 trillion solutions simply do not work in our large, complex country. Overly broad statutes have too many unintended consequences. Particularly, this law is harming Americans by providing fewer choices, higher healthcare costs, and countless tax increases. It is also chipping away at the critical physician/patient relationship. We need to replace it with reforms that lower healthcare costs for all Arkansans. We need to reject the ever-expanding culture of dependency and encourage our able-bodied citizens to pursue lives of virtue, hard work, and civic service. President Obama promised us we “could keep our plans,” that our insurance premiums would fall, and health care access would improve. The reality is that time and time again over the past three years I have heard your complaints about increases in premiums, shockingly high deductibles leading to loss of health care coverage, and costs that are out of reach for many families.

Our healthcare system faces some serious problems; we need targeted, surgical, carefully considered reforms that acknowledge the complexity of our health care system. I have repeatedly voted to repeal this broken healthcare law and start over with reforms that actually lower healthcare costs, protect pre-existing conditions, and improve access for all Arkansas families. I will not defend the status quo. Our families deserve better.

Education
Like our health care system, changes are needed in the American education system. I believe the lack of equal access to a quality education is the civil rights issue of our day and that we must demand success, accountability, and results in every classroom. Some of these key approaches were in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that the Congress passed in 2015, plus additional flexibility for state and local districts. I have taken a lead role in helping historically black colleges educate Arkansans released from prisons, so they can become productive members of our society.

I believe strongly that all our children – those college bound and those that will begin their career directly after high school – need quality direction and curriculum that helps prepare them for their “pursuit of happiness.” That’s why I am so pleased to promote policies that encourage concurrent credit and skilled workforce programs – two strategies that better prepare our young people, increase affordability of education, and build the talent we need for our state’s growing economy.

I meet regularly with our Second District School superintendents, students, and teachers to discuss ways that I can best advocate for them in Washington.

National Security
Our strong national security is an essential issue facing the Congress and our nation. As a member of the House Financial Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance, I have used my expertise to provide our national security personnel the resources they need to fight and defeat terror at home and around the globe. The mission of ISIS is not only to terrorize third world and developing countries, but also to come to the U.S. and other western nations—as we have seen in San Bernadino, California and Paris, France. ISIS strives not only to take the lives of innocent people, but to destroy our way of life, faith, religious beliefs, and rights. Fortunately, the President brought new leadership to the allied fight against ISIS. The U.S. led direct, coordinated strategy has destroyed the Caliphate’s command and control and freed their territory across Iraq and Syria.

As a businessman with over three decades of financial, management, and banking experience, I have worked diligently with my colleagues to find solutions that will improve traditional interdiction of terror finance in the banking, trade, and business sectors. Further, I used my experience to help design legislation to reform our Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws.

Additionally, I voted for H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the House of Representatives and is an important measure that funds our national defense priorities at home and abroad. This bill gives our troops a much deserved pay raise (the first pay raise in eight years) and pumps money into training. Our current combat readiness is at dangerously low levels.

Importantly, I was pleased to assist in securing funding for the much needed modernization of the C-130 Hercules fleet, the backbone of the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard airlifters at the Little Rock Air Force Base (LRAFB). As Congress continues to address the important issues facing American security and military, I will continue to support the needs of our military to provide a strong national defense for the United States.

Further, I led the push for the Air Force and Air National Guard to maintain a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) that is located on LRAFB. By keeping this important national security investment worth more than $10 million facility at LRAFB, the Air Force was able to establish a new training mission located at the SCIF and, in the future, will be able to expand the cyber missions in Central Arkansas.

Veterans
I believe it is imperative that we ensure that our veterans get the medical treatment they need in a timely and efficient manner. Those who have served our country deserve the best care and caretakers to maintain their health. So far in the 115th Congress, nine bills have been signed into law that hold Washington bureaucrats accountable for failing to adequately care for our veterans. These bills improve backlogs and wait times, improve VA workforce recruitment and training, and fund more than $2 billion for the Veterans Choice Fund.

During my first term in office, I ordered a report from the Office of the Inspector General to investigate cost overruns for the Little Rock VA Hospital construction project. The report found rampant and widespread mismanagement, delays, and VA financial mismanagement of taxpayer dollars—a $1.5 million dollar cost overrun for the implementation of $8 million of solar panels at the Little Rock VA. This VA financial mismanagement pattern has been found throughout the county. If it is a project as complex as hospital construction in Denver or one as simple as the appropriate installation of solar panels, the VA continues to waste taxpayer dollars as a result of mismanagement. I believe those dollars could be better spent on much needed administrative services to speed benefit analysis and claims processing. We must continue to monitor VA construction activities to ensure avoidable financial mismanagement and waste ceases. Besides an increased eye on VA overspending, we must make sure our veterans receive the VA benefits they deserve, great care, timely service, and decrease the massive care backlog. It is my priority to make sure the VA continues to be held accountable on all of these fronts.

Homeland Security and Immigration Reforms
Today’s national security begins with our ability to defend our nation’s borders from the flow of illegal traffic. I am an outspoken and positive voice on the issue of border security in the Congress. We must use all tools to reduce potential threats at our border. When I listen to our federal and state officials and officers who are on the front lines of our borders and speak with our border security and immigration offices, I have learned about the challenges and complexities they face on the border. I made three trips along the U.S.-Mexico border during my first term in Congress. It was important to see and understand the complexities of all sections of our southern border and that is why I will continue to participate in border visits.

People from all over the world are traveling to Mexico, discarding their travel documents, crossing the U.S. border, and taking advantage of American goodwill and regulations by using “credible fear” rights of persecution in their home country. I believe we must maintain our status as a beacon of hope for those who would like to flee a life of persecution in another country. However, we must be vigilant to protect Americans here at home and prevent those who are coming to our nation from abusing our laws or causing harm to the American people.

The House of Representatives is considering several bills pertaining to immigration reform. It is of utmost importance and priority that our final immigration bill provides a fair and equitable solution for those individuals in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program; reforms our agriculture visa program to make sure those immigrants working in our nation’s agriculture industry are in our country legally; provides for increased security measures along our nation’s southern border; and empowers our border patrol to keep bad actors, such as terrorists or members of transnational gangs, out of our country.

Conservation and our National Parks
I am an avid outdoorsman and believe that we must protect our public lands, such as National Parks and wilderness, so that our future generations can learn about our nation’s history and see the beauty of our country.

I had this in mind when I introduced H.R. 2611, the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Boundary Modification Act, which exemplifies my commitment historic preservation and conservation. The bill passed by a unanimous vote in the House and Senate and was signed by the President. This important bill will help preserve the Central High neighborhood, which will forever stand as a living monument to the Little Rock Nine’s brave actions to integrate Central High School.

I am also working to expand the Flatside Wilderness area, which is located in Perry County in Arkansas’s Second Congressional District. My goal is to make the area more accessible to visitors and ensure Flatside Wilderness remains an integral part of what makes Arkansas – “The Natural State.” ^[149]