Press Releases

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford (AR-1) asked witnesses Thursday who testified before a Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee whether they have experienced hardships on their permitting process with the EPA when it comes to endangered species. Witnesses affirmed that they had experienced hardships and in some cases, the financial expense was significant:

Following a House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee mark-up Wednesday over the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Waters of the United States rule, U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford (AR-1) expressed his concerns with EPA's attempts to broaden the scope of the Clean Water Act.

Following Tuesday's 367 to 55 House passage of H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford (AR-1) said the legislation allows Congress to work on an improved, long-term bill.

Crawford said Congress had an immediate need to address the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund, which was due to run out August 1. The new act extends federal surface transportation programs and ensures the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund through May 2015.

U.S. Representative Rick Crawford (AR-1) praised Tuesday's unanimous House passage of H.R. 4810, the Veteran Access to Care Act of 2014, serving as an original sponsor of the bill.

The legislation, which passed the House by a 421-0 vote, directs the VA secretary to seek hospital care and medical services at non-VA facilities for veterans having difficulty getting appointments at VA facilities.

Congressman Crawford said the bill helps alleviate the logjam of backlogged veterans' appointments.

On the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings during World War II, U.S. Congressman Rick Crawford (AR-1) issued the following statement regarding the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Western Europe:

"Prior to D-Day, General Eisenhower sent a message to the Allied Forces saying, ‘We will accept nothing less than full victory!' Shortly afterwards, about 160,000 Allied troops invaded a 50-mile stretch of German-occupied beaches along the French Coast. More than 4,400 of them died on those shores and another 7,000-plus faced injury. The others pressed on.

U.S. Representative Rick Crawford (AR-1) announced Arkansas' First District winners of the 2014 Congressional App Challenge Thursday with a team of three Cross County high school students taking top honors.

Cross County High School students Philip Billings, Carmen Juarez, and Truman Jones finished first for creating the iOS application iSave, which helps young people manage their finances.

To best serve the needs of Arkansas' First District residents, Congressman Rick Crawford (AR-1) will have representatives from his District office visit Madison and Helena-West Helena Wednesday, June 11.

Congressman Crawford's staff members will be hands-on at the Madison Community Center—located at 306 Martin Luther King Drive— from 10 a.m.-noon and the Helena-West Helena City Hall—located at 226 Perry Street—from 2-4 p.m. to help anyone with a federal agency or program issue.

U.S. Representative Rick Crawford (AR-1) applauded the inclusion of language in the agriculture appropriations bill Thursday allowing greater flexibility of local school districts to determine nutrition standards for their students.

"Since 2012, I have been working to address the concerns of parents, educators, and administrators of the First District with respect to the nutrition standards being enforced by USDA," said Crawford. "These standards, simply put, place an unnecessary burden on school districts that have little flexibility in implementing these unrealistic standards."