I joined Jonesboro’s KASU to answer listener questions and discuss the Senate business this week. The Senate is debating President Trump’s cabinet nominees, but the process is taking an unnecessarily long time. This is the slowest Cabinet confirmation process since the Eisenhower administration. Listen to the interview here. 

We ran out of time before answering all of the questions that listeners asked. Here are the questions we didn't get to:

“What are your thoughts about the government’s role in funding CPB and the arts and the humanities?” 

These are valuable tools to keep citizens informed and educated. I understand the importance of these investments to Arkansans and to listeners of KASU and other public radio stations in our state. I have been supportive of these programs during my service in the House and Senate. As a former school board member, I truly understand the importance for arts education funding throughout our Arkansas communities. 

"What are we doing to preserve equal meaningful coverage for ALL constituents, including those with low to moderate income, and including those with pre-existing conditions?”

Obamacare places a higher value on attaining coverage benchmarks than it places on providing access to truly affordable, quality care. As a result, millions of Americans have lost their private insurance they liked and the doctors with whom they had long-standing relationships. These have been replaced by Obamacare policies baring higher premiums and deductibles while offering fewer options to find care.

This will not be a quick process as these serious issues deserve thoughtful debate. There are certain policy provisions in Obamacare that I support—such as coverage for pre-existing conditions and flexibility for older children to remain on their parents’ health insurance—that my colleagues and I will make an effort to include in a replacement that provides flexibility, choice, portability and fairness for all. I am committed to working with my colleagues to establish a careful and orderly transition to a patient-centered health care system that truly is affordable, not just in name but in practice, and actually works for the American people.