From the Front: Visitors, bills in the U.S. House last week

0
164

To start off this week’s From the Front …

I would like to thank all of the Arkansans who stopped by my Washington office during their visits to our nation’s capital, including the Rosenau family from Bentonville, Mitchell Johnson from Fayetteville, Randy Klindt from Fayetteville, Kirkley Thomas from Little Rock, Elizabeth Carter from Russellville, Sally Sweeden from Russellville, Alex Guynn from Pine Bluff, Penny Ross from Arkadelphia, the Hazelwood family from Centerton, the Ivy family from Russellville, the Wright family from Springdale, the Skinner family from Bentonville, the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, Dr. Jim Rollins from Springdale, the Arkansas Soybean Association, David Deere from Little Rock, the Arkansas State 4-H, the National Turkey Federation, the Parnell family from Flippin, the Madison family from Harrison, the Swanfeld-Ricks family from Springdale, Lelan Stice from Pine Bluff, the Dayringer family from Fayetteville, the Kachel family from Fayetteville, and the Fox family from Rogers. Safe travels back to the Natural State.

This week, the House considered and passed under suspension the Medical Controlled Substances Transportation Act of 2017, the Federal Employee Antidiscrimination Act of 2017, as amended, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1730 18th Street in Bakersfield, California, as the Merle Haggard Post Office Building, a bill to remove the use restrictions on certain land transferred to Rockingham County, Virginia, and for other purposes, a bill to authorize, direct, facilitate, and expedite the transfer of administrative jurisdiction of certain Federal land, and for other purposes, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Land Conveyance Act, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire certain property related to the Fort Scott National Historic Site in Fort Scott, Kansas, and for other purposes, the John Muir National Historic Site Expansion Act, the Clear Creek National Recreation Area and Conservation Act, the Western Oregon Tribal Fairness Act, the Saint Francis Dam Disaster National Memorial Act, the Lytton Rancheria Homelands Act of 2017, the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act, the Empowering Law Enforcement to Fight Sex Trafficking Demand Act, and the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017, as amended.

On Wednesday, the House brought the Gaining Responsibility on Water Act of 2017 (H.R.23) to the floor. H.R. 23 would provide for the necessary replacement of water dedicated to fish and wildlife purposes by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) at a reasonably low cost and target CVPIA actions on a priority basis towards salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. The legislation would remove American shad and striped bass, both non-native species, from the definition of “anadromous fish” and define “reasonable flows” as water flows capable of being maintained taking, into account competing consumptive uses of water and economic, environmental, and social factors. H.R. 23 passed with a vote of 230-190.

On Friday, the House brought the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) (H.R.2810) to the floor.H.R. 2810 would authorize and prioritize funding for the Department of Defense and military activities and construction, and prescribe military personnel strengths for FY18. The bill would specifically authorize $613.8 billion in base funding, including a $28.5 billion increase above the President’s budget for essential readiness recovery. Further, it would authorize an additional $10 billion in the Overseas Contingency Operations fund (OCO) for base requirements, and an additional $64.6 billion in the OCO fund to cover contingency operations. When factoring in $7.5 billion for mandatory defense spending, a total of $695.9 billion is authorized to be appropriated. H.R. 2810 passed with a vote of 344-81.

Next week, I look forward to another productive week back in Washington.

From the Front …

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here