WASHINGTON NEWS IN BRIEF: Hill introduces bill to assist schools | 2 senators support $740B defense bill | At White House events, masks few

7/26/2020
Arkansas Democrat Gazette

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., introduced the Helping Educators with Learning Preparation Act on Thursday in the House of Representatives.

If approved, it would authorize creation of a $25 billion grant program to help educational entities resume classes in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.

The money could be used to improve distance-learning capabilities or to protect students' health, among other purposes.

"This proposed grant program would be offset by unspent appropriations dollars that we have each fiscal year. So it's not new spending. It's redirecting appropriated dollars to helping our teachers, our families and our principals cope with reopening their schools for covid," the lawmaker from Little Rock said.

Asked whether federal dollars should be conditioned on in-person classroom instruction, Hill said, "I believe that school districts need to make that decision locally. Schools are a state and local principle responsibility. Fighting the virus is very much a local responsibility. ... The virus spreads differently in different places and has different impacts in different areas of our country. It is not uniform. Therefore I believe that opening schools safely and sensibly needs to reflect the views in that school district among those families, those elected leaders and those school administrators," he said.

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, is the bill's co-sponsor.

Hill's Democratic opponent, state Sen. Joyce Elliott of Little Rock, criticized the incumbent for not introducing his legislation sooner.

"Months ago, I released a plan to use federal funding to help protect our schools from COVID-19 and better our rural broadband," she said in a written statement. "The plan drew on my decades of teaching and crafting education policy."

2 senators support $740B defense bill

Arkansas' two U.S. senators, Republicans John Boozman of Rogers and Tom Cotton of Little Rock, voted Thursday for passage of the National Defense Authorization Act.

The $740 billion bill, which outlines defense policy and priorities, passed 86-14.

Boozman praised Cotton for his work to advance the legislation and predicted it would be helpful to Arkansas.

"We have a large defense industry in Camden. In the course of just needing munitions, there's going to be a lot of business sent there," he said.

The legislation also authorized a National Guard training center at Fort Chaffee, Boozman said.

"This will support the National Guard presence there that is so, so very important to Arkansas and the region around Fort Chaffee," he said.

The bill calls for a review of child-care needs and opportunities, including data on wait lists, as well as opportunities to expand capacity, and to better recruit and retain child-care providers.

"I think that's going to be very, very helpful," Boozman said, stressing the challenges facing many single parents who serve in the military.

At White House events, masks few

Mask-wearing, though mandatory for most Arkansans, is still optional for White House guests.

At Wednesday's East Room event focusing on "violent crime in America's cities," only two of 32 audience members were using face coverings when the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette conducted its tally. Both were family members of homicide victims. Chairs at the event were roughly 3-feet apart.

The rest, including uniformed law enforcement officials from New Mexico, Missouri and Illinois, were mask-free.

At Friday's Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony for former U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., Time Magazine Senior White House Correspondent Brian Bennett spotted no masks on the 30 or so guests who had gathered in the Blue Room.

Ryun, a silver medalist at the 1968 summer Olympics, was the first high school athlete to run a mile in under 4 minutes.

White House pool reporters, like last week's visitors, are required to take covid-19 tests before they encounter President Donald Trump.

The tests are free, and the results come back fast -- in roughly 20 minutes, one of the test administrators said.