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WASHINGTON NEWS IN BRIEF: Little Rock resident able to get Capitol tour; Lighthizer urged to talk up poultry

Arkansas Democrat Gazette
03/15/2020

Little Rock resident able to get Capitol tour

WASHINGTON -- Linda Murphy of Little Rock was one of the last Americans to get a tour of the U.S. Capitol last week. Staff members for U.S. Rep. French Hill, a Republican from Little Rock, showed her around the historic complex Thursday afternoon. All tours were suspended that evening at 5 p.m. and are not scheduled to resume until April 1.

The Arkansan had scheduled the visit in February and was accompanied by her sister, Misty Yarbrough of Dallas.

In an email afterward, she described what it was like to be on Capitol Hill during a national crisis.

"I have enjoyed this trip to Washington D.C. immensely, though the gravity of the COVID 19 situation has tinted the lens through which I will remember this visit," she wrote.

"My sister and I were blessed to arrive when we did and have the chance to enjoy some of what this amazing city has to offer. Our hearts are heavy with concern for what those back home and all around the world are experiencing right now," she wrote. "I am thankful to have had the opportunity to visit the places where life-changing decisions are being made at this moment. It was humbling to walk through the Capitol building today as lawmakers were discussing and deciding laws that will help our nation as it navigates this terrifying moment in time."

Lighthizer urged to talk up poultry

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last week, urging him to remember the poultry industry during coming negotiations between the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Republican from Rogers, who serves as co-chairman of the Congressional Chicken Caucus, was part of a bipartisan coalition urging Lighthizer to help remove barriers to the export of U.S. chicken and turkey.

Nearly four dozen lawmakers added their names to the letter, he reported.

Arkansas was the second-leading producer of broilers in 2018, according to the National Chicken Council. The state produced more than 1 billion broilers for the year.

Since 1997, the European Union has banned poultry that has been treated with antimicrobial washes.

The treatments, which are approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are standard in the U.S.

The European Food Safety Authority agreed, more than a decade ago, that washing poultry with chlorinated water poses no health risk. Despite that determination, the restriction has remained.

With Great Britain exiting the European Union, "we are in a position to negotiate an agreement with the U.K. that resolves this unscientific ban once and for all," the lawmakers wrote.

In a written statement, National Turkey Federation President Joel Brandenberger, said his organization appreciated Womack's leadership on the issue.

"Greater access to export markets for the U.S. turkey industry supports jobs and communities throughout Arkansas," he said.

Hill speaks about Syrian war, woes

U.S. Rep. French Hill marked the anniversary of the Syrian uprising Wednesday, speaking at an event titled "Nine Years of Atrocities in Syria: Civilians Still at Risk."

The program, in the Capitol Visitors Center, was organized by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, as well as the Syrian Emergency Task Force.

The group's executive director, Mouaz Moustafa, was born in Damascus but emigrated to the United States when he was 12 years old. He attended junior high school in Fort Smith, high school in Hot Springs, and college in Walnut Ridge and Conway before moving to the nation's capital.

The crushing of largely peaceful protests by the regime of President Bashar Assad sparked a civil war that has unleashed years of death and devastation, critics say.

During his remarks, Hill blamed Assad and his loyalists for what he called "a great tragedy."

"They burned the country. Twelve million people displaced, over a half-million people killed," the Republican from Little Rock said.

U.S. lawmakers want it to end, he said.

"In Congress, you see a united bipartisan support for taking the actions to take Assad to the Hague," he said, referring to the site of the International Criminal Court.

Lawmakers must also insist that President Donald Trump and the nation's European allies "have a coherent plan and a coherent strategy for using our leverage to bring peace back to Syria."

Hill has worked with Moustafa repeatedly since his election to Congress in 2014. He is also a member of The Friends of a Free, Stable and Democratic Syria Caucus.

"It's been a cause that I care a lot about," Hill said after Wednesday's speech.