embers of Arkansas’ Congressional delegation plan to send a letter to newly appointed U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry asking him to reverse the Obama Administration’s participation in the controversial Clean Line project through Arkansas. Ernest Moniz, the energy secretary under Obama, used “Section 1222” of the Congressionally-approved 2005 Energy Policy Act to green light the $2 billion, 720-mile transmission line that travels through three states to deliver wind-power generated electricity. ...
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U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) and U.S. Representatives Rick Crawford (AR-01), French Hill (AR-02), Steve Womack (AR-03) and Bruce Westerman (AR-04) today will introduce legislation to restore the right of states to approve or disapprove of electric transmission projects before the federal government exercises its power to take private property.
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Members of the all-Republican Arkansas congressional delegation introduced legislation Monday that would effectively block construction of a new power line stretching from Oklahoma to Tennessee, potentially halting the $2 billion project. If approved, federal officials would need permission from state officials before they could approve the use of eminent domain to build an electric power transmission facility within the state. Approval would also be needed from American Indian tribes if the pro...
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Today, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) released the following statement in response to President Trump’s executive order on travel from six countries designated by the Obama Administration as having ties to terror: “The president is justified to place a temporary ban on immigrants from the countries identified by the Obama Administration as countries of concern because of their ties to terror. Over the past two years, we have heard extensive testimony from high-ranking Obama Administration offi...
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S. Rep. French Hill was generally pleased with the tone and subject matter in President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union speech, but the second term Republican Congressman said he wants many more details before committing to specific programs. Hill, appearing on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, said Trump’s proposals to reform immigration policy from family unification to merit-based is worth exploring. “When I think about merit-based, it’s both skilled and unskilled labor...
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House Republican lawmakers are signaling that legislation to regulate proxy advisory firms likely will be introduced this year. Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) Feb. 28 told Bloomberg BNA that the House Financial Services Committee will take a closer look at the role of proxy advisers in the coming months. Meanwhile, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.), speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event earlier this year, said the latest version of the Financial Choice Act—legislation to roll back the Dodd-Frank Act th...
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Today, the House passed H.R. 998, the Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act of 2017. The SCRUB Act calls for a bipartisan commission to identify outdated and unnecessarily burdensome regulations that need to be repealed or modified. After passage of the bill, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) released the following statement: “Last year, I wrote a letter to then-President-elect Donald Trump asking him to create a regulatory relief task force to addres...
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(Sinclair Broadcast Group) — Republicans praised President Donald Trump for delivering a professional, presidential address to Congress Tuesday night, but Democrats doubt that his policies will match his more measured rhetoric. “I thought he was very presidential and I think it reassured a lot of people that they made the right choice that he is now the president of the United States,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah in an interview on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Several House Republicans emphasize...
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(Sinclair Broadcast Group) — President Donald Trump broached a rarely discussed but potentially significant policy issue in his address to Congress Tuesday by calling for reform in the legal immigration system. While much of his own campaign rhetoric and the vast majority of debate on Capitol Hill have centered on illegal immigration, the president said legal immigrants are taking jobs and driving down wages for American citizens. “Nations around the world, like Canada, Australia and many others...
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Today, after President Donald Trump signed an executive action to roll back the previous administration’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) released the following statement: “We are entering a new era, one where regulatory policy is crafted with a more measured and thoughtful approach. Good regulatory policy protects our environment and our citizens, but it does so in a balanced way that doesn’t dramatically and negatively burden the economy. The WOTUS ...
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