Hill urges action on passports lag
WASHINGTON -- A backlog in passport approvals is putting Americans' travel plans in peril, U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., and U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., warned last week.
In a letter Thursday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, they asked him "to urge your department to accelerate the implementation of policies and procedures that increase timely issuance of passports."
Signed by more than 200 of their colleagues, the letter stated that "many of our constituents are facing long delays and canceled trips due to an inability at passport centers to receive, process, and deliver passports in a timely manner."
Constituents face delays of up to 18 weeks. Even "expedited service" -- which costs an additional $60 -- can take up to 12 weeks, they said.
Capitol Hill workers have seen the problems firsthand, the letter suggested.
"Congressional staff calling on constituents' behalf have also experienced hours' long delays, reducing our office's ability to help a greater number of constituents in need," the letter stated.
Signers of the bipartisan letter include the rest of the all-Republican Arkansas House delegation: U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro; Steve Womack of Rogers and Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs.
Cotton bill seeks $50B for police
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced legislation Wednesday that he's calling the Fund the Police Act of 2021.
If approved, it would reroute $50 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act "to establish a Law Enforcement Support Trust Fund at the United States Department of Justice and to support two federal grant programs to hire, train, and equip more state and local police officers," Cotton's office stated.
Cotton, a lawmaker from Little Rock, voted against the American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in March.
According to the Vera Institute of Justice, which tracks incarceration data, the nation witnessed "an unprecedented drop in total incarceration between 2019 and 2020."
From 2.1 million people in 2019, the incarcerated population fell to 1.8 million in mid-2020.
This was "triggered by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and pressure from advocates to reduce incarceration," the nonprofit group said.
The releases, Cotton told Fox News on Friday, have resulted in "a historic crime wave this summer" in many of the nation's cities, including Washington, D.C.
"If we want to stop this crime wave, we've got to get tough on crime, and we've got to start backing law enforcement," Cotton said.
Lawmakers hold forum on wildfires
Republican members of the House Natural Resources Committee held a forum Thursday titled "Preventing Catastrophic Wildfires and Restoring Forest Health and Resiliency."
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., the committee's ranking member, holds a master's degree in forestry from Yale University.
He is the only licensed forester currently serving in Congress, according to the American Conservation Coalition.
Last week's hearing came as the West Coast is in the midst of drought.
The region is also experiencing unprecedented heat. Last month, Portland, Ore.'s high temperature reached 116 degrees.
Oregon's Bootleg Fire is reportedly now the third-largest in state history.
In Death Valley, Calif., the temperature reached 130 degrees, the hottest the U.S. has been in at least a century.
Westerman says misguided forest policies are making a bad problem worse.
"We need a paradigm shift about how we manage our forests to restore health and resiliency. Until that moment, we will continue to see the tinderboxes that we call forests literally explode at the slightest spark," he said during the hearing.
"We already know what the remedy is to our unhealthy lands, and that's science-based, active management," he said.
Last week, Westerman reintroduced the Resilient Federal Forests Act, which seeks to overhaul forest management practices.
Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (501) 908-5204 or [email protected]. Want to get the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Washington bureau? It's available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.