WASHINGTON NEWS IN BRIEF

$4M raises for 2 earn July’s Fleece

Rewarding Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac execs ‘insane,’ Hill says

Voters in Iowa are getting plenty of visits from Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mike Huckabee and other presidential candidates. Huckabee, after being told that Iowa GOP leaders blame him for the party’s straw poll demise, said: “Well, gosh, I didn’t know I was that powerful.”
Voters in Iowa are getting plenty of visits from Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mike Huckabee and other presidential candidates. Huckabee, after being told that Iowa GOP leaders blame him for the party’s straw poll demise, said: “Well, gosh, I didn’t know I was that powerful.”

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, U.S. Rep. French Hill gave his Golden Fleece award to the Federal Housing Finance Agency for approving approximately $4 million in raises each for the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Since being placed in voluntary conservatorship by the agency in 2008, Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., have received almost $200 billion in government assistance.

“This is insane,” Hill, R-Ark., said in a statement. “The Treasury is opposed to it, President [Barack] Obama is opposed to it, and this agency went ahead and did it anyway, and for that insanity they have received the Golden Fleece for July.”

In May, Hill announced that he would begin handing out the awards, reviving a 13-year project begun by former U.S. Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis., who announced 168 monthly winners of the Golden Fleece award between 1975 and 1988.

2016

On Monday, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton attended two events in Iowa. On Tuesday, she was in New Hampshire, and Wednesday she attended a fundraiser in Scranton, Pa.

Thursday, Clinton met with the AFL-CIO’s executive council in Maryland.

On Thursday, Republican hopeful Mike Huckabee made three stops in Iowa. Radio Iowa reported that while meeting with reporters Huckabee responded to the idea that he’s the main cause of the demise of the Iowa GOP’s Straw Poll.

“Well, gosh, I didn’t know I was that powerful,” Huckabee said.

The Iowa Republican Party’s chairman told the National Journal there is “a lot of anger” about the “damage” Huckabee did when Huckabee announced in May that he would not participate in the event.

Huckabee pointed to other Republican candidates who announced plans to skip the event before him.

ON THE HILL

The U.S. House recessed last week for the August break. Senators are scheduled to follow their colleagues home by the end of this week.

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., spoke Tuesday at the the Global Explosive Ordnance Disposal Symposium and attended the Wildlife Refuge Expo meeting with Shelby Free of Stuttgart, the world duck-calling champion. On Wednesday he met with Michael Preston of the Arkansas Economic Development Committee.

Fellow Arkansan Hill spoke about insurance regulations Tuesday at an event hosted by The Hill newspaper.

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., recorded an interview Tuesday about faith with a nonprofit group called the Presidential Prayer Team, and hosted a telephone town hall with about 7,000 constituents. On Wednesday he toured the White House with the Heaton family of Hot Springs. On Thursday, he spoke at the NRA Youth Summit.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., spoke on the House floor about several people from his district.

On Monday, Womack gave a speech in honor of Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, who has Russellville ties and who, along with three other Marines and a Navy sailor, was killed in a shooting at Chattanooga, Tenn., military installation. Tuesday, he spoke in celebration of Pratt & Whitney’s 90th anniversary, and Wednesday, he spoke in remembrance of Terry Stambaugh of Harrison, the chairman of the regional Chamber of Commerce who died in a car accident.

On Tuesday, Womack and U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., received the 2015 National Retail Federation Hero of Main Street Award.

On Tuesday, Boozman met with Texarkana’s Ben Glick of Tri-State Iron & Metal. On Wednesday, he sat down with Arkansans from Paul Mitchell Cosmetology Schools, and with Anna Cunningham of DeWitt and Gillian Wall of Bentonville. On Thursday, he talked with Chris Bayles of Springdale.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., met Tuesday with representatives from the Arkansas National Council on Independent Living; Trent Lott Leadership Institute students Savannah Day of Fayetteville and Kat Oglesby of Little Rock. On Wednesday he visited with the American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation, the University of Arkansas’ Bodenhamer Fellows and Circuit Judge John Dan Kemp of Stone County, who wanted to discuss the drug-court system.

FEDERAL GRANTS

NASA has awarded two grants totaling nearly $245,000 to Ozark Integrated Circuits Inc. of Fayetteville to design circuits intended for a Venus rover.

The technology firm is affiliated with the University of Arkansas and will work with electrical engineering students on the project, according to a university news release.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to the University of Arkansas for a drug developed for treatment of hair loss and other disorders.

Joshua Sakon, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is one of four co-inventors of the pharmaceutical protein now known as BMD-2341. The patent, titled “Fusion Proteins of Collagen Binding-Domain and Parathyroid Hormone,” was issued to the University of Arkansas System board of trustees, the Ochsner Clinic Foundation and the National University Corp. Kagawa University in Japan.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $243,007 grant to the Arkansas Department of Health to administer and enforce the state’s lead-based paint program. In part, the funds will be used to train inspectors.

COFFEE

Westerman will host Coffee with the Congressman events this week. At 3 p.m. Monday he will be at the Malvern Chamber of Commerce at 213 W. Third St. and at 8:15 a.m. he will be at the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce at 111 W. Main St.

INTERNS

Cotton is looking for unpaid interns to serve in his Washington office from Aug. 31 to Dec. 18. Interested applicants can send a resume, cover letter and writing sample to internships@cotton.senate.gov.

TOP DOG

Cotton’s bichon frise Cowboy, who appeared in a commercial during his Senate race, was named the 11th-cutest dog on Capitol Hill last week by the Independent Journal Review.

The list, a tongue-in-cheek response to The Hill’s annual 50 most beautiful list, ranked the dozens of dogs who occasionally accompany their owners to work.

According to the list, Cowboy’s likes include eating birthday cake (one of Cotton’s favorite desserts) and scavenging from Senate trash cans.

Planning to visit the nation’s capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Contact us at (202) 662-7690 or swire@arkansasonline.com.

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