3 ex-senators join in call for caucus
WASHINGTON -- Three former Democratic U.S. senators from Arkansas, David Pryor, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln, are calling for creation of a "bipartisan caucus of incumbent senators who would be committed to making the Senate function as the Framers of the Constitution intended."
The Arkansans were among 70 former senators from both parties who endorsed the proposal in an open letter published Tuesday by the Washington Post.
"Basically, those of us who have been in the Senate recognize that the Senate just simply is not functioning as it should, as it was designed to do, as it was intended to do," Mark Pryor said in a telephone interview. "It's not fulfilling its constitutional responsibility but also its general responsibility to the American people."
Partisan gridlock, letter writers said, isn't helping matters.
Article I of the Constitution assigned legislative powers to the House and Senate, the letter noted.
"To the extent that Congress doesn't function as the Framers intended, policy-making is left to the less democratic executive and judicial branches," they wrote.
The power to declare war and the power to regulate foreign trade have increasingly been ceded to the executive branch, they noted.
The White House's power over spending matters has also expanded, they said.
"The Senate's abdication of its legislative and oversight responsibilities erodes the checks and balances of the separate powers that are designed to protect the liberties on which our democracy depends," they warned.
"Our concern is that the legislative process is no longer working in the Senate," they wrote.
While most signers were Democrats, they were joined by at least 20 Republican (or former Republican) U.S. senators.
Womack reelected to West Point post
Third District U.S. Rep. Steve Womack will lead the West Point board of visitors for another year.
Colleagues unanimously reelected Womack at their quarterly meeting Wednesday. It will be his fourth term as chairman.
"It's an extraordinary privilege to help guide this preeminent leadership institution, and the young men and women who are driven by a call to serve," the Rogers Republican said in a news release.
West Point, on the Hudson River about 50 miles north of New York City, is "the oldest continuously occupied military post in America," officials say.
It is also the nation's oldest service academy.
Then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, appointed Womack to serve on the board in 2012. Since 2017, he has been its chairman.
Womack served 30 years in the Arkansas Army National Guard, retiring as a colonel in 2009. He is also former executive director of the University of Arkansas' Army ROTC program.
His brother, Jim, is a 1977 West Point graduate.
Boozman honors True Grit's Portis
U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., paid tribute Monday to Charles Portis, author of True Grit and one of the state's brightest literary stars.
The El Dorado native died Feb. 17 at age 86.
A Korean war veteran, Portis returned to his home state after his discharge, enrolling at the University of Arkansas. After graduation, he put his journalism degree to good use, finding employment at the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Arkansas Gazette and New York Herald-Tribune.
But it was his fiction that made him famous.
"True Grit has been praised as one of the great American novels," Boozman told his colleagues during a speech on the Senate floor. "I want to take this opportunity to say how proud we are of Charles Portis and his legacy as an acclaimed writer and storyteller."
Portis "has left a profound, lasting mark on Arkansas as well as within our nation's culture and literary traditions," Boozman said.
In addition to honoring Portis, Boozman gave a speech praising the Disabled American Veterans and highlighting the centennial of its founding.
Representatives of the Disabled American Veterans from Arkansas were on Capitol Hill last week to discuss their legislative priorities with Boozman and other lawmakers.
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 03/01/2020