Washington news in brief

Westerman reveals geospatial data bill

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman unveiled a new version of the proposed Geospatial Data Act of 2017 Wednesday, legislation designed to help standardize the way government agencies acquire, organize, store and share this type of data.

The Republican from Hot Springs is teaming with U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and the measure has support from a long list of business and government groups.

Google, the National League of Cities and the American Association of Geographers were among roughly three dozen groups that quickly endorsed the measure.

Geospatial Data "identifies and depicts geographic locations, boundaries and characteristics of features on the surface of the earth," the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states. "Geospatial data includes geographic coordinates (e.g., Latitude and Longitude) to identify the location of earth's features, and data associated to geographic locations; for example land survey data and land cover type data."

The Congressional Research Service says that, if the legislation becomes law, "all geospatial data collected, directly or indirectly, by covered [government] agencies" will be more readily accessible.

"Federal and local government agencies, businesses and other organizations would be able to access the information from a single source," Westerman spokesman Ryan Saylor said. The Federal Geographic Data Committee would be charged with overseeing it.

In a letter, Google and the rest of the groups said Westerman's "vital legislation" would "strengthen U.S. geographic science, research capacity, and competitiveness."

The legislation, Westerman said, will "make government more efficient and more streamlined."

Currently, some agencies are buying and collecting the same data, needlessly paying twice for the same information.

And because they use different platforms, they can't easily share it with one another.

By standardizing things, "we should be able to combine some of this data collection so that it's sharable across different departments of the government plus [available] to the general public."

Crawford weighs in on Bergdahl's pay

Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl, who deserted his post while serving in Afghanistan, shouldn't be paid for the time he spent in captivity, U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford said last week.

The lawmaker called upon acting Army Secretary Ryan D. McCarthy to withhold any back pay from the soldier, who was held captive from 2009-14.

Normally, a captive soldier, upon release, would qualify for roughly $150,000 in compensation on top of basic pay and hostile-fire pay, Crawford said in a news release.

In a letter Wednesday signed by nearly 100 of his colleagues, Crawford noted that Bergdahl had pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.

"At the very least, we know Private Bergdahl's actions, by his desertion admissions in court, jeopardized the lives of his comrades," Crawford wrote.

After Bergdahl's disappearance, the military launched a full-scale search, attempting, without success, to locate him.

A group of U.S. troops and Afghan natives came under fire as they searched; several were seriously wounded during the machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade attacks.

The 31-year-old Idaho native received a dishonorable discharge earlier this month and was demoted from sergeant to private.

Crawford, a Republican from Jonesboro, is a veteran. During Crawford's time in uniform, he served as a U.S. Army explosive ordnance disposal technician.

Federalist Society hears Cotton speak

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton addressed the Federalist Society's 2017 National Lawyers Convention on Thursday at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The Republican from Dardanelle was one of the featured speakers, along with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House counsel Donald McGahn.

That evening at a sold-out black-tie-optional dinner, the conventiongoers heard from newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

The Federalist Society, founded in 1982, describes itself as "a group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the current legal order."

During his appearance, Cotton said he has longstanding ties to the group.

"I was a member of the Federalist Society when I was a student and then when I was in private practice, so I've long supported what you do to spread the gospel of freedom and constitutional government to the benighted backwater lands of our nation's law schools," he said.

It wasn't the first time that he'd addressed a Federalist Society group, he noted.

"I met my wife at a Federalist Society lunch," he said. "I gave a speech, and a pretty girl gave me her phone number afterwards."

The former Anna Peckham, Cotton's spouse since 2014, also attended Thursday's event.

Odds and ends

U.S. Rep. French Hill met Tuesday with Maj. Gen. Mark Berry, the adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard. They discussed C-130s, disaster relief and the guard's cybermission.

Hill, a Republican from Little Rock, also met with Rafael "Tatito" Hernandez Montanez, a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. They discussed the damage caused by Hurricane Maria, the devastating storm that struck the island in September. Much of the island was left without electricity.

A Hill spokesman said the conversation covered a range of issues, including hurricane recovery, tax changes and job growth.

• University of Arkansas Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz was in Washington last week. Members of the Fayetteville school's D.C. alumni chapter gathered at The Monocle Restaurant on Monday night to share hors d'oeuvres, drinks and Razorback pride with the school official.

The Monocle, barely a block from the Hart Senate Office Building, has been a popular hangout since it opened in 1960. The restaurant's website claims that former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon were regular customers in its early years.

No U.S. presidents were spotted there Monday, but the Arkansas contingent did include a couple of lawmakers: U.S. Sen. John Boozman and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack both stopped by.

• Members of the state's congressional delegation are closing their Washington and Arkansas offices on Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Some of the offices will also close early on Wednesday. The offices will reopen Monday morning.

Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or flockwood@arkansasonline.com. Want the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Washington bureau? It's available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.

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