WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has repeatedly clashed with Iran's ayatollahs, wants to make it harder for them to hide their financial assets from public scrutiny.
The Republican from Dardanelle on Monday introduced the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act, which would "require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the estimated total assets under direct or indirect control by certain senior Iranian leaders and other figures."
The bill, SB2353, states that "Iran is characterized by high levels of official and institutional corruption" and alleges that "many members of Iran's senior political and military leadership have acquired significant personal and institutional wealth by using their positions to secure control of significant portions of Iran's national economy."
If passed, the Treasury secretary would issue periodic reports listing "the estimated total funds or other assets held in accounts at United States and foreign financial institutions" that are controlled by Iran's supreme leader, president and numerous other officials.
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is co-sponsoring the measure. A companion bill easily passed in the House late last year.
In a written statement, Cotton said the legislation will shine a spotlight on the conduct of Tehran's leadership.
"This report will expose to all the world just how badly the ayatollahs have mismanaged the Iranian economy and just how much money they've stolen from the Iranian people," he said.
Rutledge, Ward go to D.C. ag session
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Arkansas Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward attended Tuesday's White House Conference on Rural Prosperity.
They were joined by Vice President Mike Pence and several other key administration officials, including Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Rutledge, who serves as co-chairman of the National Association of Attorneys General Committee on Agriculture, said the meeting was "a great opportunity to not only visit with other state leaders and local leaders across the country, but our national leadership with regards to agriculture."
Members of President Donald Trump's administration said they are looking for opportunities to increase trade and decrease regulatory burdens, Rutledge said.
"Rural America is really the backbone for so many jobs," she said. "If rural America is succeeding, America is succeeding."
Ward said the meeting highlighted the administration's commitment to rural America.
"It brought in agriculture leaders from all 50 states, rural leaders," he said. "We've never had an event like this."
"This administration, from the White House on down. ... they're committed to working on agriculture issues," he added.
Hill says FEMA wasted tax dollars
U.S. Rep. French Hill recently gave a Golden Fleece Award to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, accusing it of wasting taxpayer dollars.
The Republican from Little Rock sent a letter to FEMA Administrator William B. "Brock" Long on Wednesday informing him of the news.
Hill cited news reports about FEMA's recent sales and purchases of manufactured trailers. The agency reportedly sold undamaged, 18-month-old, $150,000 trailers for a fraction of their purchase price last year, just days before Hurricane Harvey struck Texas. The agency resumed selling them later in the year, at a time when displaced Texans could have used them.
Trailers that were less than 18 months old were also sold because they had minor damage, The Associated Press reported.
Meanwhile, FEMA was issuing contracts for new trailers.
"I believe that selling off trailers needed for disaster victims with only minor damage or 18 months of use is a waste of resources, depriving desperate individuals of potential homes," Hill wrote.
The late U.S. Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis., was the creator of the Golden Fleece Award, using it to highlight government spending that he considered wasteful.
After Hill's election to Congress in 2014, he resurrected the award.
Security redoubled for Trump speech
Martha Hill had some idea what to expect when she attended Tuesday's State of the Union address.
The Little Rock lobbyist and attorney had attended once before -- when Gerald Ford was president.
Hill, who is married to U.S. Rep. French Hill, sat beside Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge during the speech, frequently rising to applaud President Donald Trump's words.
Asked the biggest difference between the two evenings, Hill said: "Security."
The Capitol, in the 1970s, wasn't a fortress like it is today.
Last week, visitors passed through metal detectors three separate times on the way to their seats. The first time, at the entrance to the House office buildings. The second, in the tunnel ways beneath the Capitol. The third was on the third floor, outside the doorways to the House Gallery.
The scanning machines at the third stop were the high-tech kind that one encounters at airports from coast to coast.
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.
SundayMonday on 02/04/2018