Last week I introduced the Agricultural Export Expansion Act with Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND). This legislation would change a provision in current law, lift the ban on private banks and companies from offering credit for agricultural exports to Cuba, and help level the playing field for U.S. farmers and exporters. 

Here are some of the highlights about the importance of this bill and our efforts to support and improve the export of American agricultural commodities to Cuba. 

Asa Hutchinson: John Boozman 'On The Right Track' With Cuba

John Lovett reports that the move to normalize relations with Cuba and extend credit lines for agricultural products is supported by members of the Arkansas delegation, with Gov. Asa Hutchinson saying that U.S. Sen. John Boozman is "on the right track" with his efforts to extend credit lines to Cuba. (The Times Record, “Hutchinson: Senator ‘On The Right Track’ With Cuba,” 4/27/15) 

Cuba: “a market we should be dominating”

Glen Chase of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that Cuba trade would be a ‘boon to the farm community’ and Arkansas produces the type of rice preferred by Cubans. Rich Hillman, Vice President of the Arkansas Farm Bureau, called Boozman's bill “a first step toward normalizing trade with Cuba, which the bureau supports.” (Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “State's rice, proximity called ideal for Cuba,” 4/27/15)

Finding Compromise in Cuba Trade

“Although a broad embargo governs trade with Cuba, agricultural products have been granted some leeway, although the financing restrictions mean trade is far from free and open.”

“Short of full repeal, experts said, politicians might find agreement on further relaxing financial regulations, such as the credit ban.” (McClatchy “Farm-state senators introduce bill to ease ag sales to Cuba,” 4/22/15)

Boozman pushes credit for Cuba with the main goal of exporting

The Democrat Gazette reports that “Arkansas Rice Farmers Chairman Dow Brantley of Lonoke said Boozman's bill would open credit options for rice producers and remove a trade barrier with Cuba.” Brantley says there is “financial logic” in the Boozman bill. (Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “Senator pushes credit for Cuba,” 4/23/15)

It was a busy week in Washington that included the Senate’s vote on the Loretta Lynch nomination, passage of Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, and the introduction of new bills requiring employers use e-verify to ensure they don’t hire illegal immigrants and expanding more trade opportunities for Arkansas agriculture. Read all about these in the Week in Review and find out where you can dispose of your unneeded and unused prescription drugs for tomorrow’s Arkansas Take Back. 

• Voted Against Loretta Lynch: The Senate confirmed Loretta Lynch to be the next Attorney General. I voted against her nomination because she has offered her full support for the President’s unconstitutional actions, including his attempt to offer amnesty to illegal immigrants. 

• E-Verify: When we discuss how to deal with our nation’s illegal immigration problem, one vital component is providing employers the right tools to ensure they are hiring a legal workforce. That is why I am cosponsoring the Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act of 2015. 

• Trade Opportunities for Arkansas Farmers: I joined my fellow members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry to hear from government and agriculture stakeholders on agriculture trade with Cuba, including Terry Harris, the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Risk Management at the Stuttgart-based Riceland Foods. Normalized commercial relations with Cuba are expected to create opportunities for Arkansas farmers in a nation that imports 80 percent of its food. 

• Holding VA Accountable: Little Rock's Veterans Affairs Medical Center received an $8 million grant to the build solar panels, but since construction was completed in 2013, they were never activated because they were not compatible with the local electricity grid. Congressman French Hill and I are calling for an investigation into the due diligence failures that led to this and find out why the project was given the green light. On Tuesday, I asked the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs why this was allowed to happen and what’s being done to prevent this abuse of taxpayer dollars. 

• Passage of Human Trafficking Bill: The Senate unanimously passed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. If this bill becomes law, it can restore dignity to the victims of these heinous crimes and it can help end modern day slavery. 

• Improvements Needed in IRS Customer Service: How was your experience filing your 2014 income tax? As the chairman of the Subcommittee responsible for appropriating the annual IRS budget, I’m working to hold the IRS accountable for its use of taxpayer dollars and make sure it’s addressing the needs of its customers – the American taxpayers. Read my column published in The Hill about improvements needed in the agency’s customer service.
  
  
• Arkansas Take Back: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified prescription drug abuse as an epidemic. To help fight this widespread abuse I encourage you and you, your neighbors, friends and family to participate in Arkansas Take Back and get expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs out of the home. On Saturday more than 130 collection sites across the state will take old and unneeded prescription drugs. Find a site closest to you.
  
  
• Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce Visits: Members visited Washington as part of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 56^th annual fly-in as part of the outreach to members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation. Watch the video.

“But that’s not going to happen in the future. It’s just not going to happen.”

This is the response I received from Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald when I pushed for a response to wasteful spending at VA facilities at a hearing today in the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction & Veterans Affairs.

As an example, I highlighted the construction of solar panels at the Little Rock Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) that were never activated because they were not compatible with the local electricity grid.

As I stated to the Secretary, eight million dollars for a failed project is a large amount of wasted taxpayer money. VA can’t waste taxpayer money on projects that fail well before they can get off the ground. Every dollar VA wastes negatively impacts the services and benefits our veterans receive.

The American people need to be assured that this is not systemic and that it must not happen again. The Secretary was adamant it won’t on his watch. That is encouraging, but only stringent oversight will ensure that goal is met.

But it runs deeper much deeper. As I mentioned to the Secretary, these are issues of trust. 

Another perfect example of a breach of trust on VA’s part is the ongoing delays providers are facing from VA when they seek reimbursements after providing medical care for veterans. 

These delays have a negative impact on veterans’ healthcare. Working together to resolve billing and payment matters will ensure our veterans receive the healthcare they earned and our health facilities get the payments they are owed. 

In Arkansas, we have 75 hospitals with 4,400 claims pending with VA, worth a total of $24 million.  Some claims have been pending for years. I raised this to Secretary McDonald who laid out the Department’s strategy for rectifying this problem. 

These are among the many serious trust issues at VA. If the public can’t trust VA to be wise with taxpayer money, Americans will lose faith. If the Department refuses to meet its obligations to providers, veterans will lose service. These problems require an immediate course correction on VA’s part and Congress must remain committed to holding the Department accountable.  

Benjamin Franklin once said, “…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

That doesn’t mean death itself should be taxed.

Death should not force the sale of family farms or the closure of small businesses. Hardworking Americans should be allowed to pass along the results of their success, which they were already taxed on during their lifetime, to their families without having to pay even more to Washington when they pass away.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to permanently abolish the estate tax, more commonly referred to as the death tax. It passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 240 to 179.

Over in the Senate, we recently approved an amendment to the Budget that encourages Congress to eliminate the death tax.  I supported that effort, but we still need to pass separate legislation that makes the repeal a reality.

That is why yesterday’s action in the House was so important. Likewise, a companion bill in the Senate, which I am cosponsoring, is of equal importance. I will be working with my colleagues to get either of these bills passed during the 114^th Congress.  

According to a study by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, repealing the death tax would create 1.5 million additional small business jobs and would decrease the national unemployment rate by nearly one percent. This could be an important boost to our economy, which clearly continues to lag under the Obama Administration’s watch. Repeal of the death tax will allow job creators to grow their operations, instead setting aside those resources to pay an unfair penalty to Uncle Sam.

Part of the American Dream is to build an inheritance that will benefit our future generations. The death tax works against that idea by making planning and passing on family farms and businesses to the next generation even more difficult. That’s why the death tax needs to eliminated.