Category Archives: U.S. Congress

Social Security crisis this year’s election secret

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tax, taxes, debt, deficits, spending, trillion, State of the Union, deficit hawks, balanced budget amendment, Jonathan Bydlak, immigration, $98.8 trillion, $970 billion, Social SecurityHere’s an issue not being discussed much in this year’s campaign: The winners of U.S. Senate races across the country likely will face a Social Security crisis near the end of their terms, about the time they would run for re-election.

 In Arkansas, that would be Sen. Tom Cotton or one of the candidates seeking to replace him.

Both the Social Security Administration’s actuaries and the Congressional Budget Office have said that the Old-Age & Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which pays seniors’ Social Security benefits, will become insolvent by the end of 2032.

That’s less than seven years from now. Continue reading →

Arkansas projects get funded as debt elephant gets ignored

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tax, taxes, debt, deficits, spending, trillion, State of the Union, deficit hawks, balanced budget amendment, Jonathan Bydlak, immigration, $98.8 trillion, $970 billionBy Steve Brawner, © 2026 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Congress has funded most but not all of the government. Four members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation secured hundreds of millions of dollars for highways and other state projects. Meanwhile, a nonpartisan group is warning of the consequences of ever-increasing government debt.

That paragraph pretty much sums up the federal budget news from the past couple of weeks, with more to come. 

As you may not have noticed, there was another government shutdown last week, though only a partial, brief one. It ended when President Trump on Feb. 3 passed the second of two bills that funded government operations through September – all except for the Department of Homeland Security, which got funding for only two weeks until Feb. 13.

Democrats balked at funding that agency because they want major reforms to its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. As of Sunday evening, the question had not been resolved. 

So we’re in another partial government shutdown. Continue reading →

Womack speaks in House while heart is at home

Steve WomackBy Steve Brawner, © 2026 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack spoke in the House of Representatives on Jan. 22 in support of a $1.2 trillion spending package he had helped create. His voice cracked twice, but only briefly and for a very good reason. Four days earlier, he had lost his wife.

Terri Womack, his wife of 41 years, had died on Jan. 18 at age 68.

The spending package passed the House with bipartisan support, 341-88. It would provide funding for the Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

Continue reading →

Dr. Bass’s prescriptions for Congress

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Congress is a mess. I asked Dr. Hal Bass what might could be done to fix it.

Bass has taught political science at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia for 49 years. He was my professor when I attended school there from 1987-91. Retired since 2016, he still teaches one class a semester. This semester, it’s “The American Congress.”

In a phone interview, he said James Madison and the rest of the Constitution’s framers believed Congress would be the “first” of the government’s three branches, the others being the executive and the judiciary. 

That’s not the case now. The presidency has become more and more powerful in recent decades when his party controls Congress. That’s especially the case now under President Trump.

“I just don’t think there’s been a president who could count on the unflinching support of congressional majorities like Trump can,” he said. Continue reading →

Westerman, Womack both right about McCarthy vote

By Steve Brawner, © 2023 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

There are two ways of looking at last week’s speaker of the House election in Washington – Rep. Bruce Westerman’s way, and Rep. Steve Womack’s way. Both are valid.

Westerman and Womack along with Arkansas’ other representatives, Reps. French Hill and Rick Crawford, were strong supporters of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s bid. They all stuck with him through 15 votes over four days until he finally was elected over the strong opposition of about 20 conservatives. 

Westerman, a close ally of McCarthy, gave the nominating speech on the 15th vote that finally settled the matter. Afterwards, his office released one of those statements that generally belongs at the end of a news story, but it’s worth repeating in part here. Continue reading →