Honored for defending our nation’s founding principles, encouraging hiring veterans, the Boozman Bulletin and more from Washington this week. 

• Hire Veterans: Unemployment among veterans is at 6.6 percent. However, veterans who have served since 9/11 are facing a much higher unemployment rate of 9 percent. We’re working to address this issue with the Hire More Heroes Act. This legislation incentivizes small businesses to hire veterans by exempting veterans who already receive health insurance through the Department of Veterans Affairs or reservists covered under TRICARE from being counted towards the number of employees required by the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act. 

• Fighting for Arkansas ideals: I was honored to be recognized for supporting legislation to get our economy moving, rein in the expansive federal government and stop Washington’s wasteful spending. The American Conservative Union, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization named me an “ACU Conservative” for defending our nation’s founding principles. 

• Senate Committee Approves Boozman Bill: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously approved legislation I introduced to restore partnership agreements that allow the reinvestment of recreation fees at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds, parks, and other sites. This is good news for Corps sites in Arkansas. 

• Protecting Rural Consumers: We joined with the other GOP members of the congressional delegation to send a letter to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, expressing our concerns over a potential rate increase to rural telecom users. 

• Supporting Small Aircraft Pilots: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Wednesday that it's beginning a rulemaking process that could expand the light sport aircraft medical exemption to cover additional small aircraft pilots. This comes weeks after we introduced legislation urging the FAA to revise its policy. This announcement by FAA is a good first step.

• Boozman Bulletin: The latest issue of the Boozman Bulletin was sent to Arkansans this week. If you want to get our e-newsletter sent to you sign up here. 

• Telephone Town Hall: I hosted a telephone town hall on Monday and was joined on the phone by many Arkansans who have questions about a variety of issues being debated in Washington. If you want to join our next call, sign up here.