Washington news in brief

WASHINGTON — Morgan Seelinger Garland, a graduate student at Arkansas State University, will be studying the U.S. Constitution in the nation’s capital this summer.

Garland was awarded a $24,000 James Madison Memorial Fellowship. In June, she’ll begin a monthlong program at Georgetown University.

The 26-year-old from Bryant is a 2014 graduate of ASU. After completing her undergraduate degree, she taught high school in Harrisburg before returning to Jonesboro.

Garland is to arrive in Washington on June 16 and says the schedule will be jampacked.

“We’ll be going to Monticello, to Mount Vernon. We’ll be doing all kinds of things,” she said.

While in town, she’d like to meet U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

“She’s a strong woman in politics, and it’s somebody that I can look up to,” Garland said.

In December, Garland is to graduate with a master of science in education degree in social science.

“I hope that this degree will allow me to teach the importance of the Constitution and its history to my future students and hopefully encourage them to go out and change the world,” she said. “Long term … I would like to possibly get into education policy.”

With U.S. Rep. Steve Womack at the helm, the House Budget Committee held its annual Members’ Day hearing Thursday, providing other lawmakers the opportunity to weigh in on the fiscal 2019 budget resolution.

It was a short meeting: Only one guest showed up.

Afterward, Womack expressed disappointment at the turnout.

“Balancing the budget is a team effort. While the House Budget Committee is responsible for putting forward a budget resolution, that plan is made better when members of the whole House actually engage in the process,” he said in a written statement. “Today’s lack of participation highlights Congress’s disengagement and the dysfunction of the budget process.”

The Republican from Rogers was named in January to serve as chairman of the committee. He also serves as co-chairman of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, which met Wednesday.

A witness at that hearing, Coalition for Health Funding executive director Emily Holubowich, warned that “dysfunction” resulting from Congress’ budgetary breakdowns undermines public health.

Dennis Sternberg, the executive director of the Arkansas Rural Water Association, testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on Wednesday.

The Greenbrier man spoke in favor of the Securing Required Funding for Water Infrastructure Now Act, legislation that would authorize spending $1 billion over five years to encourage drinking water and wastewater projects across the country.

The legislation was introduced in January by U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers. It is co-sponsored by five Democrats and five Republicans.

According to a summary released by Boozman, the legislation, Senate Bill 2364, would also waive application fees and streamline the application process. In addition it would “simplify the federal approval process by allowing thousands of vetted drinking water and wastewater projects to receive funding, eliminating the need for the Environmental Protection Agency to process thousands of additional loan applications.”

Sternberg has testified on Capitol Hill before, most recently in March 2017. During that appearance, he urged an Environment and Public Works subcommittee to support the proposed Small and Rural Community Clean Water Technical Assistance Act. Planning to visit the nation’s capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or flockwood@arkansas online.com. Want the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s

Washington bureau? It’s available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.