How Arkansas’ congressional delegation voted

HOUSE

Delay of air-quality standards.

Approved 229-199, a GOP-sponsored bill (HR806) that would extend from 2017 to 2025 the deadline for states to adopt stricter standards under the Clean Air Act for reducing ground-level concentrations of ozone, or smog. This would delay an Environmental Protection Agency rule that requires ozone to be reduced from 75 parts per billion to 70 ppb by 2017. The bill also changes from five years to 10 years the frequency of EPA reviews to ensure that National Ambient Air Quality Standards reflect the latest scientific and medical information. David McKinley, R-W.Va., said ”we all want clean air. But America has made great strides already. Ozone is down by one-third since 1980. But the regulations imposed by President [Barack] Obama in 2015 would cost the economy billions of dollars each year and hamper job growth.”

Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said: “Ozone, or smog, is a corrosive gas that forms when emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes cook in the heat and sunlight. It triggers asthma and other respiratory illnesses. It is very expensive. It is not fair for Republicans to let polluters off the hook and shift costs to hardworking American families.” A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

✔ Rick Crawford (R)

✔ French Hill (R)

✔ Steve Womack (R)

✔ Bruce Westerman (R)

Protections for vulnerable populations.

Defeated 232-194 a bid by Democrats to prevent HR806 (above) from fully taking effect if an EPA scientific advisory committee concludes it would raise health risks to vulnerable populations such as outdoor workers, children, senior citizens, pregnant women and minority and low-income communities. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said: “Approximately 125 million Americans still live in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution. Improving ozone standards can help avoid premature deaths, childhood asthma attacks and missed school days.”

John Shimkus, R-Ill., said the bill “ensures we will continue to deliver effective environmental protections, with reforms that will also help expand economic opportunity in communities around the nation.” A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.

✖ Crawford (R)

✖ Hill (R)

✖ Womack (R)

✖ Westerman (R)

Natural-gas pipeline permits.

Passed 248-179 a GOP-sponsored bill (HR2910) that would set tight deadlines for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other federal and state agencies to rule on applications for permits to build interstate natural-gas pipelines. While backers said the bill would streamline an overly bureaucratic process, critics said it would trample on private and tribal property rights and undercut environmental laws. In part, the bill would allow conditional permits to be granted on the basis of aerial data collected by drones that critics said would fail to detect historical sites, endangered species and wetlands. Also under the bill, most agency reviews would have to run concurrently and be completed within 90 days.

Bill Flores, R-Texas, said Congress “should modernize our pipeline infrastructure to match our abundant natural-gas resources,” so that “all parts of the country can realize the benefits of clean, affordable and abundant natural gas.”

Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said: “Congress should not make it easier for private companies to claim eminent domain and potentially [harm] historical sites, reservoirs, farms and other private properties.”

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

✔ Crawford (R)

✔ Hill (R)

✔ Womack (R)

✔ Westerman (R)

Cross-border energy pipelines.

Approved 254-175 a bill (HR2883) that would end the requirement that presidents approve permits for oil and natural-gas pipelines and electric-transmission facilities that cross U.S. borders. The bill authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue certificates for pipelines and the Department of Energy to grant approvals for electricity lines. Debate touched on the long-running dispute over the Keystone XL pipeline through the U.S.-Canada border, which President Donald Trump’s administration recently approved after years of blockage by the Obama administration on environmental grounds.

Fred Upton, R-Mich., said the bill is needed because ”recent proposals, most notably the Keystone XL pipeline, have faced significant and unnecessary delays as a result of political interference in what should have been a straightforward review.”

Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said: “Tar sands crude is the dirtiest fuel on the planet from a climate perspective, and this bill creates a permitting process for cross-border pipelines that make it difficult, if not impossible, for the federal government to say no to any of these projects.”

A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.

✔ Crawford (R)

✔ Hill (R)

✔ Womack (R)

✔ Westerman (R)

American-made iron and steel.

Failed 232-193 a Democratic motion requiring all iron and steel components of cross-border pipelines approved under HR2883 (above) to be made in the United States.

Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., said: “We need to rebuild America’s energy infrastructure, but we need to rebuild America by creating American jobs.”

Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said the measure would “deny the important benefits of this legislation to the American workers [and] businesses and our collective energy security.”

A yes vote was to adopt a made-in-America requirement.

✖ Crawford (R)

✖ Hill (R)

✖ Womack (R)

✖ Westerman (R)

GOP tax overhaul, Trump returns.

Blocked 235-190 a Democratic bid for floor debate on a measure that would delay the GOP’s planned overhaul of the tax code until after Trump has released his personal returns for 2006-2015 and business returns or return information for the 500plus companies worldwide that he either controls or serves in an official capacity. As a privileged resolution, the measure was not debatable. It stated, in part, that the American public deserves to know “how any changes to the tax code might financially benefit the president.”

A yes vote opposed floor debate on whether to compel business and personal tax disclosures by Trump.

✔ Crawford (R)

✔ Hill (R)

✔ Womack (R)

✔ Westerman (R)

SENATE

Patrick Shanahan confirmation.

Confirmed 92-7 Patrick Shanahan, a longtime executive at The Boeing Co., as deputy secretary of defense, the Pentagon’s second-ranking position. Shanahan headed Boeing’s commercial aircraft and missile-defense operations, among other positions in 31 years with the company.

Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Shanahan would provide “leadership that the Department of Defense needs as our nation faces as diverse an array of threats and challenges to our national security as at any point in our history.”

No senator spoke against the nominee.

A yes vote was to confirm Shanahan.

✔ John Boozman (R)

✔ Tom Cotton (R)