Dear Friends,
This week was Congress' last before the district work period. While I have enjoyed the busy legislative schedule of the past seven months, I am excited to be able to spend the next month touring the Second Congressional District. Hearing your views on the issues that matter most to you is essential to my work.
I know that for many of you, increased accountability in government is a major priority. As a former executive in private business, I, too, value accountability in the workplace.
The success of any operation—whether it is in the private sector or in government—is dependent upon the employees and management being held to the highest standards possible.
While a lack of accountability is a government-wide theme, its recent poster child is the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In response to the most horrific scandal in Department history, it took a year before a single employee was fired for manipulating wait times for veterans seeking VA healthcare.
This week, the House took a major step towards ensuring accountability for poorly performing employees of VA is swift and fair by passing legislation that gives the VA Secretary every resource possible to remove the bad actors that are wasting taxpayer dollars, scarring the reputation of the Department, and harming veterans.
VA and the President are officially out of excuses for why they can’t quickly weed out dishonest or incompetent employees.
Please let me know what you think about this bill by commenting on Facebook. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Congress' efforts to make your government more accountable to you.
Sincerely,
Representative French Hill |
News for the Week
House Committee Passes Bill to Delay TRID Enforcement
The House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would delay the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's enforcement of the new home buyer and seller disclosure rules. It also approved two additional bills addressing the qualified mortgage rule and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executive compensation.
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State's 2 back Senate Ax for Planned Parenthood
The Arkansans serving in the House, all Republicans, say they're reluctant to give tax dollars to Planned Parenthood. U.S. Rep. French Hill said he wants to stop federal funding for a year while Congress investigates whether the organization broke the law. "It's important to do the investigation so we can hear what facts come out. The videos are alarming, so I think it's warranted," Hill said.
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#WhatAWaste
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This week, Congressman French Hill (AR-2) wrote a letter to the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Mel Watt, congratulating his agency for winning the Golden Fleece Award for the month of July. FHFA received the award for its approval of approximately $4 million in raises for each of the CEOs of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Since being placed in voluntary conservatorship by FHFA in 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have received almost $200 billion in government assistance, by far the costliest taxpayer bailout resulting from the financial crisis.
Congressman Hill broke the news on “First News with Kevin Miller” on KARN stating:
“I have awarded the Golden Fleece Award this month to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
These are the folks that oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that were the leaders of the [2008] financial collapse, that are still in government conservatorship, have received almost $200 billion in government assistance—which they’re paying back—and yet [this month], Federal Housing Finance Agency gave approval to boost the salaries to $4 million of the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
This is insane. The Treasury is opposed to it, President Obama is opposed to it, and this agency went ahead and did it anyway, and for that insanity they have received the Golden Fleece for July.”
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