Photos courtesy of the office of U.S. Sen. John Boozman
John Boozman, Arkansas’ senior U.S. senator and the dean of the state’s congressional delegation, is entering his 15th year in the upper chamber, having first been elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. Now on his third president — and his fourth presidential administration — the new year is bringing unprecedented challenges both at home and around the world.
A Republican native of Fort Smith, Boozman has distinguished himself in Washington for steady leadership and a plainspoken, common-sense approach to governing. He serves on the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Committee on the Environment and Public Works, in addition to being the ranking member of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
Along with those committees, he serves on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, commonly referred to as the Helsinki Commission, and the Congressional Study Group on Europe, a bipartisan organization dedicated to frank and candid dialogue between American lawmakers and their peers in Europe.
Through those assignments and others, Boozman has devoted his career to issues affecting everyday men and women both in Arkansas and throughout the country.
Arkansas Money & Politics sat down with Boozman to gain his insights on the state of the nation both domestically and abroad, what awaits the second administration of Donald Trump, and the continuing effort to restore Arkansas as the Land of Opportunity.
National Association of State Veterans Homes President Tracy Schaner presents Boozman the 2024 Legislator of the Year Award.
AMP: Now that the Republicans have secured both houses in Congress and the White House, what do you think are the big issues for the first hundred days? What comes first?
BOOZMAN: Well, I think that the fact that we secured all three aspects — the House, the Senate and the executive branch — really is unusual, but the other thing we have to remember is that even though we control all three, we do just barely. The Senate, we’ll have 53 senators, but it usually takes 60 votes to get anything done because of the filibuster rule. In the House, we’ll have a two- or three-vote majority, so it’s going to be very, very tight, and it’s going to take a lot of work to get things done.
I think as far as the issues that we’ll face almost immediately are the things that the president ran on, the things that members of Congress, those that were up for reelection, ran on. The border would probably be right at the top of the list, along with inflation. Inflation is difficult, but so much of the cost of business is the regulatory atmosphere, and that’s something that we can attack. Regulations are very important. We need regulation, but excessive regulation increases cost, and it hampers supply chain, which raises prices.
The border, as we all know, simply needs to be taken care of. The president’s committed, and I think Congress will be committed, to securing the border and, at the same time, start to remove those who are here illegally that have committed felonies, start sending them back. I think the public was pretty overwhelmingly in favor of that, and that’s the reason we were able to win the election. I think those will be the main things as we move forward.
Boozman called passage of the new Farm Bill one of his top priorities.
AMP: Do you sense something different about this second administration, the environment around it, the tone and the timbre of it? Or is it just the same honeymoon period, and it’ll be back to business as usual once the president is sworn in?
BOOZMAN: I think that the mood of the country now is one of helpfulness. I think the reason that Republicans were able to gain control is that average Americans felt like they didn’t have a lot of hope in the sense that they were working harder and yet seemed to not be getting ahead because of inflation. They were very discouraged because of the border and the lawlessness that that’s created. I think there’s a real feeling in the air that President Trump is coming in with some experience, having done it, you know, in the previous term. During those years, when you look at the statistics regarding unemployment and the ability to get ahead, people felt like they were doing pretty well.
Now he’s going to have to deliver, and Congress is going to have to deliver, but as we all know, he is a strong leader. I think he’s got the ability to do that. So much of what gets done is based on confidence, and I think right now the president-elect has the confidence of the majority of people coming into office. His approval rating is probably as high now as it’s ever been.
AMP: Were you surprised by the margin of the election and the way in which Trump reclaimed the White House?
BOOZMAN: I was not surprised that he won, listening to the people here that do the internal polling for us and just seeing it was so close. Republicans usually under-poll, and so with us being right there, even a little bit ahead at times, it really made me think that we had a great opportunity and a really good chance of winning. What I think I was most surprised by was I didn’t think that we’d win the popular vote, and we won that convincingly.
The other thing, which I thought was so great, was that it was settled one way or the other, essentially on Tuesday night, which I don’t think anybody thought that it would be over in the wee hours of Tuesday. That was something that I think was really good for the country, to see that decisiveness so that we could move on and get to work and try and do some things differently.
Athletes with Arkansas Special Olympics pose for a snapshot with the senator.
AMP: Turning our attention to foreign policy, there are many very problematic issues around the world. Israel continues to battle Hamas amid, frankly, what can only be called a lukewarm response from the Biden administration. Hostages are still in captivity. Syria has collapsed. Ukraine continues to slog along. What do you see as more pressing when it comes to bringing something to a resolution, the Middle East or Ukraine?
BOOZMAN: I think it’s so difficult, and it all goes together. It’s a very dangerous world. You look at what’s happened, it’s unbelievable that the world has totally reshaped itself with the downfall of Syria, and then you have the downfall of Iran and the Russians being marginalized because of both of those. These are all allies. Iran being defeated militarily, most of the commanding officers being killed, they’re now looking toward nuclear weapons. If Iran goes nuclear, Saudi Arabia will go nuclear, Egypt will go, and we have nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. These are all really very, very serious things. I don’t know which one is more important, but they are all connected.
I do think that President Trump understands that we are a great military power, but also, our might is in the fact that we are a great economic power, and he is not afraid to use that economic might with sanctions. We’ve got sanctions now and this and that, but I think he’s prepared to really ratchet things up if people don’t start behaving. I don’t know how else to say it. I think he doesn’t mind using that, and he realizes the power that we have there. It’s not about sending in troops and things like that; we can use our military might in a certain way, but we can also use that economic might to really tamp things down and get people talking and try and end these senseless wars.
AMP: What issues are as important as what we have been talking about but because, maybe, they are not quite as sexy or they are a little more complicated, are flying below the public’s radar? What absolutely needs to be addressed and has the attention of lawmakers that we just don’t hear as much about?
BOOZMAN: I think something that’s really important is the fact that we were able, in 2017, to pass the huge tax cut package, which gave tax release relief to everyone. We’re in a situation now, if we don’t do something to renew that, the people of the United States will have about a $4 trillion tax increase. The numbers are staggering, and you don’t appreciate that until you actually have to start paying it. We have to work the tax policy out because there’s a lot of good things in that we need to continue and some things we need to change. It’s going to take everybody working together.
I think that’s probably the one of the biggest, but there’s all kinds of other things. The nice thing in the Senate, you get to do a whole bunch of stuff. I’m very involved in the military. I’m very involved with veterans. I’m also very, very involved in agriculture. We’ve got a Farm Bill to pass right now. Our farmers are in a situation where, because the cost of planting a crop is so great that once they plant it and harvest it, they’re not breaking even. They’re losing a lot of money per acre. That just doesn’t work, that business model. We’re trying to provide some relief now and then to try and increase their safety net, their risk-management tools.
For some states, agriculture is a big part of the economy. In Arkansas, it’s 25 percent of the economy, and if you get out outside of any town of any size, it’s probably 85 or 90 percent, so we need to provide a much stronger Farm Bill in this next Congress.
AMP: President-elect Trump has nominated three people with Arkansas ties for positions of quite high importance and visibility as ambassadors and as surgeon general. What is the opinion of Arkansas as a conservative stronghold today, and what does it say that a state our size could play a role in developing individuals qualified for such positions of authority?
BOOZMAN: It really says a lot for our state. These are people who not only are connected politically, but these are very, very capable people that are going to do a tremendous job. I think we can be very, very proud of that.
Arkansas, right now we’re in a situation where we have a number of chairs and subcommittee chairs among the Congressional delegation that are very, very important. We’ve got a lot of members who have been around for a while, and when you have seniority and you’re well respected, you’re asked to do important things. We can be proud of that.
The other thing that is so important, and you’d think that it would be true throughout the country, but the Arkansas delegation works together so well. We all have different talents, and sometimes we disagree with, maybe, a particular thing in Washington when it comes to Arkansas, but there’s no separation at all. The entire group pulls together. Everybody working together makes a huge difference.
AMP: Assess the current state of Arkansas. What’s on the right track, and what’s commanding your attention back here at home?
BOOZMAN: Something that we saw with [former] Gov. [Asa] Hutchinson and where Gov. [Sarah Huckabee] Sanders is continuing to do a great job, is aggressively going after companies looking to relocate or expand. In order for people to have good jobs, you have to have the opportunity for the jobs to be there, and they’re aggressively courting these companies. As a result, we’re becoming this huge defense industry in Arkansas, in Camden and the F-35 training mission that’s coming to Fort Smith as well as continuing to support the Little Rock Air Force Base. All of these things are so, so important. They’re not only important to Arkansas, but they’re important to the security of our country.
It’s one of those things that once people see that something is working, it’s just so much easier to get others. Add to that the other facets, such as our highway commission doing a very good job of helping us get the infrastructure that we need to support all of this. It all works together. Right now I think everybody in Arkansas is doing their part to make it a better state.
One of the most pressing challenges the governor and I and so many others are working on includes maternal health. Why is Arkansas No. 1 in the sense of losing moms, losing babies? Gov. Sanders has provided a lot of leadership in that area, and we’ve been helping out on that, as well.
AMP: You’ve mentioned the economic development going on in Arkansas; add to that lithium and steel, and they’re all creating these high-paying jobs or promising to. Yet we still have difficulty raising a certain percentage of our population out of generational poverty. What do you see as the remaining barriers, to borrow from Ronald Reagan, for these opportunities and this prosperity to trickle down, specifically in the Delta and southeast Arkansas?
BOOZMAN: That’s an excellent question. First of all, the jobs have to be there, and the good news is we are acquiring more and more of those companies all the time, but you have to have the people who are qualified to fill those jobs. I think that comes through better education. Gov. Hutchinson was very focused on that, [former] Gov. [Mike] Beebe was focused on it, and Gov. Sanders is very focused on it, and it’s finally starting to pay off. That just doesn’t happen overnight, but with the good vo-tech schools, the Be Pro Be Proud of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, all of those efforts are doing a very good job.
What’s starting to happen now, instead of trying to go it alone, counties are coming together, and communities are coming together, and they’re offering up great programs. Young people are realizing — and realizing earlier — that you don’t necessarily need to go to school for four years or even two years for a particular skill, so there’s lots of changes going on there, I think, that have taken time, but there’s a tremendous amount of opportunity now. We see that in the growth of our bigger companies, like Walmart, J.B. Hunt, Tyson and the other great companies that are scattered throughout the state.
AMP: As you head into the next administration with the wind at your back as a conservative, what are your one or two priorities you want to see out of the party overall? What are the top things you would like to see get done?
BOOZMAN: Well, a couple things: Certainly, we’re working hard to see the expansion in Fort Smith at Ebbing [Air National Guard Base] with the F-35 mission. We’ve all worked together to make it such that there’s a lot of money in the pipeline for buildings and things like that to be successful there. I’m very concerned about getting a Farm Bill done, which is so, so very important. Whenever I’m around [Sen.] Marco Rubio, who is the head Republican on intelligence, I always remind him food security is national security. The Farm Bill is important not only for Arkansas, but it’s important for the country.
We’re always working on veterans issues and just a whole bunch of stuff that comes up. We’ve also spent a lot of time helping nursing home programs to provide the services that we need, particularly in rural Arkansas and rural America. There’s no shortage of good things to be done.
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