Our Pope Francis has been vocal about the need to stand with oppressed groups throughout the world, especially those like the Christian, Jewish, Yezidi and minority Muslim communities in Iraq and Syria that are being uprooted, subjugated and murdered by ISIS. As Catholics and Americans, we believe in a set of values that are commitments to religious freedom and human rights, and it is our obligation to do what we can to — like the Holy Father suggests — seek justice for those being persecuted on...
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Today, after the House passed a Continuing Resolution to fund the Government through April 28, 2017, Congressman French Hill (AR-02) released the following statement: “Although I am generally opposed to funding the government through a Continuing Resolution, I agree that it is important to give the Trump Administration and the next Congress a clean slate when determining what our spending priorities will be. However, moving appropriations bills through regular order and reigning in unchecked spe...
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The state's Republicans had a lot to celebrate at their annual convention, for the party picked up nine seats in Arkansas' 100-member House of Representatives in last month's election and two more seats in the 35-member state Senate. If everything isn't coming up roses, then at least it's daffodil time for the Grand Old Brand New Party. And yet only one refrain was repeated over and over again at this Republican conclave: "Don't screw it up!" For the party can be its own most effective saboteur,...
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On Monday, The Washington Post published a report that Pentagon officials buried evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste in 2015. Following the Post’s reporting, Congressman French Hill announced the Department of Defense (DoD) would receive this month’s Golden Fleece Award. The buried report identified $134 billion of the DoD’s $580 billion budget was spent on overhead and operations including human resources, accounting, and property management, and that DoD employed 1 million people in...
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U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., hopes to learn more Thursday about allegations of significant financial waste at the Pentagon, and U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Little Rock, said Congress must take part of the blame for “blocking even modest attempts to reform” the Department of Defense. The Washington Post first published the story about a report identifying $125 billion in wasted money related to numerous inefficiencies at the Pentagon. Pentagon officials also are accused of burying the report to a...
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Today, the House passed S. 3076, the Charles Duncan Buried with Honor Act of 2016. S. 3076, named after Charles Duncan of Little Rock, Arkansas, and introduced earlier this year by Senator Tom Cotton (AR), would amend the Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2012. Under current law, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides a casket or urn for a deceased veteran whose families do not have the financial means to pay for a burial. However, families that utilize the burial benefits are elig...
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Arkansas Republicans started their state committee meeting Saturday with applause for President-elect Donald Trump, but their main focus was on gains made for the party at the state and local level. During the meeting, officials preached unity among the surging number of Republicans in state and local office and told them, "Don't screw it up." In interviews, Doyle Webb, who was re-elected chairman of the state party Saturday, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson said more disagreement among party members is ...
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“For the 55th straight year, Republicans and Democrats have come together to fund our military at the levels they need to complete their strategic missions around the globe. We also would be giving a much-deserved pay raise for our men and women in uniform, at a level even higher than the president initially requested. The NDAA would also authorize the modernization of our C-130 Hercules fleet, which is the backbone of our Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard airlifters at Little Rock Air Fo...
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(JNS.org) Republican members of the House of Representatives are pressing President Barack Obama to veto any forthcoming United Nations Security Council resolutions on Palestinian statehood. At a Capitol Hill press conference Nov. 30, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) urged Obama to veto any U.N. resolution "that unilaterally recognizes a Palestinian state, dictates steps or parameters to the parties, or issues condemnations against Israel." U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) said Obama “should not ac...
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Today, the House passed H.R. 6392, the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2016. A previous version of the bipartisan bill passed the House Financial Services Committee in November of last year by a vote of 39-16. Under current law, a financial instruction is automatically designated as a systemically important financial institution (SIFI) if it has $50 billion in assets. Because of this arbitrary threshold, regional and large community banks are subject to the same level of regulation...
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