Water Resources Development Act This week, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a markup of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022. This bipartisan bill authorizes projects designed to improve the nation’s water resources infrastructure, including ports and harbors, inland waterway navigation, and flood and storm protection.   WRDA is an essential piece of legislation that strengthens America’s navigational capacity, builds reliable water infrastructure, and focuses on bipartisan and community-driven water solutions. I am proud to have the opportunity to work on this legislation with my colleagues and deliver results to the First District. WRDA will go to the House floor for a vote in the coming weeks. If passed, WRDA 2022 will be the fifth consecutive WRDA bill since 2014.   I am thankful for bipartisan support on a crucial piece of legislation, and I would like to thank Chairman DeFazio for his leadership and support of a provision that will benefit the First District.

H.R. 350 – Monitor More Americans Act – No Allegedly to combat domestic terrorism, this bill targets local law enforcement and the men and women of our armed forces for particular scrutiny as potential domestic terrorists, continuing the Biden Administration’s disgraceful war on our police that has contributed to the soaring rates of violent crime and anti-police hate incidents. It excludes from its focus Left-wing extremists behind the murder, arson, and other mayhem perpetrated during the coordinated, multi-city riots of 2020. It has no limits on DHS’s authority—giving it broad power to “monitor...domestic terrorism activity.” The Biden Justice Department has already abused its power by threatening concerned parents who speak at school board meetings that they could be monitored as potential terror threats.  H.R. 7688 - Socialist Energy Price Fixing Act – No Expands the Biden Administration’s power to meddle in the pricing of consumer fuels, a concept that led to massive shortages when tried by the former Soviet Union. Socialist price fixing does not work, and it hurts small businesses and consumers the most. Blames the oil and gas industry for rising prices, while prices for food, housing, used cars, and virtually everything else are also rising. Does nothing to fix the real causes of soaring fuel costs – Bidenflation, and the Administration’s regulatory roadblocks to domestic energy production.   H.R. 7791 – Expanding Formula Brands WIC Recipients Can Utilize – Yes Would allow waivers for WIC recipients in the event of a supply chain disruption. Requires manufacturers to submit a plan on how to protect WIC recipients in the event of a supply chain issue when bidding for a WIC contract. H.R. 7790 – Baby Formula Supplemental Act - No Fails to force the FDA to develop a plan to actually address the shortage and/or get the Abbot facility up and running in a timely manner. Gives the FDA $28 million when there are already available funds for this issue in both USDA and FDA. Throws money at the FDA without any real strategy or direction

This week, I attended ribbon cuttings for State Highway 18 in Jonesboro and U.S. Highway 412 in Paragould.

One of the most important things I do as a U.S. Representative is help people communicate with federal agencies.  Since the start of the new year, my office has been able to get $572,196 in benefits to constituents in the First District! If you need assistance with an agency, please call my Jonesboro office (870) 203-0540 or fill out the form here.

New York Post UFO House Intel panel: Director can't explain UFO in declassified videos “Despite the serious nature of this topic, I have to say I’m more interested in our understanding of Chinese and Russian hypersonic weapon development or understanding why this administration was so slow to share actionable intelligence with the Ukrainians,” ranking member Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said in his opening remarks. “However, inasmuch as this topic may help us better understand unknown activities of Russia, China, I am on board [with this hearing]. The intelligence community has a serious duty to our taxpayers to prevent potential adversaries such as China and Russia from surprising us with unforeseen technologies.”