Category Archives: U.S. Congress

Tom Cotton and criminal justice reform’s FIRST STEP

Politics, U.S. Congress

Tom CottonBy Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

In politics, it’s often not about who’s right and who’s wrong. Instead, it’s often about who’s more right. Which brings us to Sen. Tom Cotton and the FIRST STEP Act.

President Trump signed the criminal justice reform act into law Dec. 21, a day after the House passed it 358-36. Previously, the Senate had passed it 87-12. Cotton was the most vocal opponent among the 12 (and the 36). The rest of Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted yes.

Politics makes strange bedfellows. Advocates across the political spectrum supported the law, including Charles and David Koch, the ultra-wealthy, conservative activists, and the American Civil Liberties Union. President Trump supported it, but according to insider news reports, it was his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the son of an ex-federal inmate, who really pushed it. Continue reading Tom Cotton and criminal justice reform’s FIRST STEP →

Obamacare ruling: Next 20 years more important than next two

Health care, Legislature, Politics, State government, U.S. Congress
Seema Verna
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verna hands a waiver to Gov. Asa Hutchinson allowing the state to require Arkansas Works recipients to work. Hutchinson opposes Obamacare but has championed the Arkansas Works program created as a result of the law.

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

How significant was the federal judge’s ruling last week that Obamacare is unconstitutional? We might not know for another two years, but the bigger question is, what happens in the next 20?

The judge ruled in a lawsuit that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional because the U.S. Supreme Court’s original reasoning could no longer stand.

Back in 2013, the Supremes ruled the individual mandate to buy health insurance is constitutional because the penalty for not doing so is a “tax.”

In December, Congress repealed the penalty when it passed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. A Texas-led coalition of 20 states, including Arkansas under Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, sued arguing that without the penalty, there’s no tax, which means Obamacare itself is no longer constitutional.

Texas Judge Reed O’Connor agreed, though he did not issue an injunction, which means nothing happens while the ruling is under appeal. Now the case winds its way through the system, perhaps ending at the Supreme Court. Continue reading Obamacare ruling: Next 20 years more important than next two →

Instead of gaining five yards, Congress takes a knee

Debt and deficits, U.S. Congress
Steve Womack
Steve Womack was co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform.

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

No, adopting a two-year budget cycle wasn’t going to restore fiscal sanity in Washington, much less make a dent in the $21.85 trillion national debt (your equal share as of 9:24 a.m. Tuesday: $66,389.76).

But as Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., told me, when you can’t score a touchdown, at least try to gain five yards.

That comment came four days after a committee he co-chaired failed to advance the two-year budgeting idea.

Why two years? Because Congress can’t get the job done every year. As Womack told me, Congress is so bitterly divided and spends so little time in Washington (about 120 days a year) that it can’t complete the budget soon enough. And that’s if it completes it at all.  Continue reading Instead of gaining five yards, Congress takes a knee →

Not much suspense at Republican victory party

Elections, Politics, State government, U.S. Congress

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The Republican Party of Arkansas’ victory party Tuesday had a crowd, food and beverages, and a rock-and-roll band. One thing it lacked that would have made it a lot more fun: suspense.

The most important statewide race, the one for governor, was never in doubt. The Associated Press declared Gov. Asa Hutchinson the winner almost immediately after the polls closed. He soon gave a brief victory speech, but the cheers were the kind that comes from people who expected to win. He was followed intermittently by other winning statewide candidates greeted by smaller crowds.

Because I had left to cover the Little Rock mayor’s race, I wasn’t present for the victory speech by the only major Republican candidate who might could have lost.

That would be U.S. Rep. French Hill, who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District, where a lot of Democrats live in Little Rock. He won, 52-46 percent. His opponent, Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, was actually leading early in the evening when Pulaski County’s early vote totals were announced. But the polls leading up to the election had shown Hill had a comfortable lead, and the district’s heavily Republican outlying counties came in strong for him. He won Saline County with 68 percent of the vote and Faulkner County with 62 percent.

“Inevitable” would be the word to describe most of the election results. Whether candidates won or lost depended not on how they campaigned but on where they lived. For state and national races, Republicans won just about everywhere, except where Democrats usually win. In House District 22, Rep. Mickey Gates, R-Hot Springs, won almost twice as many votes as his Democratic opponent despite Gates being arrested for – and admitting to – not paying state taxes. In fact, he didn’t file a tax return from 2004-2017. It didn’t matter. He had an “R” beside his name. Continue reading Not much suspense at Republican victory party →