Issues
America is home to the world's most affordable, abundant, and safe food supply. Industrious producers across America and the 1st District of Arkansas are the source of the food and fiber that feed the millions of mouths here and around the world. By the year 2050, the world's population is projected to grow to 9 billion, and I am confident that America will lead the way in agricultural production through technological innovation.
Agriculture is a cornerstone of Arkansas's economy. Annually, it is a $16 billion industry that employs over 260,000 Arkansans.
Einstein's definition for insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. For more than half a century, America has maintained a trade embargo with Cuba aimed at breaking or weakening the Castro regime. It has become clear over the last several decades that the embargo has not weakened the regime but instead stifled American business opportunities.
Students have been placed on a single path, an assembly line that leads to a four year college. In this education factory, grades and standardized testing have undermined creativity and innovation. Students who don't thrive in this mold and either can't afford college or don't want to go, are largely forgotten. And those who even make it to the end by graduating college aren't necessarily well equipped, either for their own personal goals or for the needs of the modern economy.
Across all branches of our military, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians risk their lives to protect others by rendering safe every type of ordnance from hand grenades, to improvised explosive devices (IEDs), to naval mines, to nuclear weapons, and more.
Arkansans in the First District are accustomed to having control over their health care decisions. When the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law in 2010, our healthcare system was upended, imperiling many Americans' quality coverage and access to preferred doctors. Many have been fortunate to secure coverage which was not previously attainable.
Increasingly, Congress is divided not along partisan lines but along urban vs. suburban and rural divides. Rural and to some extent suburban Americans face unique challenges that those who live in metro areas aren't familiar with. As a member from a very rural district in middle America, Congressman Crawford is intimately familiar with the unique challenges facing rural Americans and he works to highlight their concerns in Congress.
In rural America, access is key, whether it's for education, healthcare, food security, or employment.
Arkansas' First Congressional District is home to a diversified agricultural economy. In the fertile Mississippi River Delta we grow cotton, rice, corn, soybeans, wheat, peanuts and even raise catfish. In stark contrast to the Delta stand the Ozark Foothills, where we have poultry, cattle, and timber producers. Annually, agriculture in Arkansas is a $16 billion economic juggernaut that employs over 260,000 Arkansans.
Congressman Crawford views our nation's agriculture and food supply chains through the larger lens of national security.
Since our nation's beginning, when the Constitution provided Congress with the power to establish roads and regulate commerce, the federal government has played a major role in providing our Country with improvements to transportation and infrastructure. Arkansas is blessed with miles of major corridors on both land and water.
Arkansas is home to more than 230,000 Veterans and I am honored and humbled to represent so many of them right here in the 1st Congressional District. As a Veteran of the United States Army, the son of a Veteran of the United States Air Force, and the brother of Veterans, I appreciate the hard work and incredible sacrifice that is required of our service-members and their families. I remain committed to protecting those who have served and continue to serve our great Country. During the 115th Congress, I have cosponsored H.R. 846, the Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act, H.R.