I'm hosting a telephone town hall on Tuesday, September 6 at 7 p.m. to connect with Arkansans and discuss topics under debate in Washington.

This statewide event gives Arkansans the opportunity to ask me questions over the phone or listen to the conversation about the issues impacting our state and nation.

Arkansans interested in participating in the phone conversation should call toll free 888-400-1986 to connect to the discussion and ask questions.

I look forward to talking with Arkansans about issues important to families, businesses and the future of our country. I find that telephone town halls are a great way to engage with Arkansans while at work in Washington. I look forward to the conversation.  

Almost nine months after signing legislation that required the Obama administration to release a report to Congress concerning the identities and backgrounds of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) detention facility in Cuba, the Pentagon has finally produced a declassified report on over 100 detainees who are currently being held or have been recently released from Gitmo.

The Department of Defense has been reluctant to disclose much information about those being held at the detention center, but we already know from recent reporting, and the congressional testimony from a Pentagon official, that some former detainees who were transferred out of the facility had returned to the battlefield and are responsible for the deaths of Americans.

President Obama made an irresponsible campaign promise to close Gitmo before the end of his presidency. This report, along with comments from Administration officials about continued efforts to transfer Gitmo detainees, should be a wake-up call that President Obama intends to empty Gitmo since Congress has continually denied his demands to close it. 

I’ve supported repeated attempts to block the Administration from shuttering the facility or transferring detainees to US soil, including introducing resolutions calling for fighters involved with the Islamic State (ISIS) to be detained at Gitmo if they are captured by the United States and formally rejecting President Obama’s plan to transfer prisoners from Gitmo to locations on American soil, as well as supporting legislation that would require the Secretary of Defense to notify Congress of any intended transfers of detainees and certify that they no longer pose a threat to national security.

Despite evidence of former Gitmo detainees recidivating into terrorist activity, the Obama administration has said that it will continue to work with countries willing to receive them. 

This report sheds much-needed light on who these prisoners are and why it is important to continue holding them at the state-of-the-art Gitmo facility rather than releasing them to the care of other nations where some will undoubtedly return to the battlefield.

I will urge the president to reconsider his approach of transferring these dangerous prisoners and I will continue to use Congress’ oversight authority to keep the president from fulfilling an ill-thought campaign pledge that jeopardizes national security.

For a vast majority of Muslims, the month-long observation of Ramadan is marked by fasting, charity and nightly prayer.

This year, the Islamic State (ISIS) turned it into a month of horror.

Close to 350 people were killed in terror attacks in eight different countries during Ramadan. Most of these attacks have been, at the very least, linked to ISIS.

The Obama Administration contends ISIS is lashing out in desperation as a result of the group losing ground in its self-proclaimed caliphate. Even if lost territory is the reason for the uptick in ISIS attacks abroad, a theory which remains up for debate, the terror group clearly has the means and a plan to carry on with its carnage. You can bet it has a plan to regain any lost territory as well.

ISIS clearly has a strategy. Where is the ours, Mr. President? 

High-profile attacks during Ramadan 

6/12—Omar Mateen—who was inspired by and pledged allegiance to ISIS—opened fire inside an Orlando nightclub killing 49 innocent Americans. 

6/13—A 25-year-old Islamic extremist who pledged allegiance to ISIS brutally murdered a police commander and a civil servant at the home they shared in Magnanville, France. The jihadist, who had been previously convicted and jailed for terror recruiting, posted a 12-minute propaganda video to Facebook live from the scene of the attack.

6/21—ISIS terrorists from Syria drove a suicide car bomb across the border to the Jordanian side and detonated it at an army post killing seven soldiers. Jordan is a key ally in the region and in the fight against ISIS.

6/28—One of the world’s busiest airports, Istanbul’s international airport, was stormed by three jihadists armed with assault rifles and explosive belts. They killed 44 people and wounded nearly 150 in an attack that appears to have been directed by ISIS leadership responsible for recruiting and training Russian-speaking jihadists.

7/1—Jihadists armed with knives, automatic rifles and bombs stormed a popular restaurant in an upscale neighborhood in the capital of Bangladesh, taking 35 hostages before torturing and killing those who could not recite the Quran. By the end of the attack, terrorists killed twenty hostages—mostly foreigners—including three U.S. college students.

7/2—A truck packed with explosives detonated by a busy shopping center in one of Baghdad’s more upscale, relatively safe neighborhoods. The center was packed with shoppers buying goods for the upcoming Eid feast, which marks the breaking of Ramadan fast. The bombing, claimed by ISIS, killed over 250 people and wounded another 150. It was one of the deadliest single attacks to hit Iraq during the past 13 years of war and insurgency.

7/4—Three cities across Saudi Arabia were hit by suicide bombers, including one attack at the mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is said to be buried in the holy city of Medina. The mosque is an important stop for millions of pilgrims each year. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings, which killed four civilians, but ISIS has attacked the kingdom before and analysts believe that the bombings could be the work of ISIS or its sympathizers.