In the News

The Trump administration wants to cut funds for the Delta Regional Authority, a government agency that promotes economic development in eastern Arkansas and other portions of the Mississippi Delta. The move faces opposition from some members of the Arkansas congressional delegation. The Delta Regional Authority is one of 19 independent agencies marked for closure under a 2018 budget… Read more »

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., joined with two Senate conservatives on Wednesday to back a proposal reforming Social Security disability benefits.  Noting that disability benefits are consuming more Social Security funds, Rubio and U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, are co-sponsoring U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s, R-Ark., “Return to Work Act" which places new applicants who qualify… Read more »

Two Republican members of the Arkansas congressional delegation have introduced legislation that would make it harder for millions of people to indefinitely receive federal disability benefits. Under the Social Security Disability Insurance Return to Work Act, those qualifying for disability assistance would be placed in one of four categories: medical improvement expected; medical… Read more »

Three $500 scholarships were awarded to local high school seniors, along with business and volunteer of the year honors during the annual Clinton Chamber of Commerce banquet last week. Former Clinton Chamber of Commerce president Darrell Moore presented the $500 scholarship certificates to Taylor Huggins from Clinton High School, Benton Barry from Shirley High School, and Madison Thorn… Read more »

A new park complex expected to open in Benton on April 1 will offer numerous amenities, Hot Springs Village Property Owners’ Association governmental affairs committee heard during member reports at its March meeting. GAC member Paul Day said Benton Mayor David Mattingly recently briefed a Benton Area Chamber of Commerce committee on several major projects. The $50 million… Read more »

U.S. Rep. French Hill last week congratulated Philander Smith College on its 140th anniversary, and he predicted that many more decades of success will follow. In a speech Thursday on the House floor, Hill told colleagues that the historically black school in Little Rock is "an early higher education institution built and created by former African-American slaves -- the first such… Read more »

A delegation of Arkansas congressmen sent a letter this week to Secretary of the Department of Energy Rick Perry, urging him to review the Clean Line project, a transmission line that runs through Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The Arkansas Public Service Commission rejected the proposed project, but the Department of Energy (DOE) used Section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to… Read more »

Republican legislators in Arkansas are urging Rick Perry, the newly elected secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), to “preserve states’ rights” and review Clean Line Energy Partners’ proposed Plains & Eastern Clean Line project, a 700-mile transmission line that would bring wind power from the Oklahoma Panhandle region to the mid-south and… Read more »

The House voted Wednesday to approve a $578 billion spending bill that keeps the U.S. armed forces operating through September and sets the stage for substantial increases in the Pentagon's budget as advocated by President Donald Trump. The fiscal 2017 defense legislation passed by 371-48 in the GOP-led chamber, clearing the way for the Senate to act. Arkansas' four representatives, all… Read more »

The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) approved six bills today, each designed to improve the environment for small business. All of these bills had previously passed the Committee in a prior iteration. Several had been approved by the full House. HFCS Chairman Jeb Hensarling commented on the legislation; “Top-down, driven policies have stacked the deck against small… Read more »