boozman: thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. chairman, and ranking member capito for your leadership in this area. as has been said and should be said many times more, we appreciate the great work of our staffs in getting this done. the other thing that's so important is the answers to our problems need to come from the ground up and through the recycling caucus and hearings and the list goes on and on, this is really where these bills, this is where those answers were generated from the people out that are fighting the battle. we talk a lot about the lack of bipartisanship and things. this is a great example of people working together for the common good up here. it's great for the environment in the sense that recycling is not just gathering. we don't want to have a situation continuing like we do now where so much of that that's gathered actually winds up in the landfill eventually. conservation is the low-hanging fruit. it makes all the sense in the world to reuse things. it creates a situation where we lessen the dependence

thank you. >> senator boozman? >> thank you, madam chair. thank you again for being here with us today. rice farmers in some of our specially crop growers may lose hundreds of millions of dollars this year due to increased and put cost. unlike almost every other commodity, they have stagnant prices. they simply have an increase while it had us enormous increase. we all know with our input costs. i'm worried about the future of our domestic rice production and the infrastructure and support. again, concerned about the crops. will you commit to working with us to ensure that economic viability of our domestic rice producers and others like specially crop growers who may be experiencing similar difficulties? >> senator, i hope all your questions of this easy to answer. >> i hope all of your answers are like that. thank you very much. let me talk to a little bit about the conservation reserve program. i think all of us appreciate the fact that you are being flexible in that regard. that is a good thing. i don't think we really understand. i know

boozman: thank you.i understand usda plans to release a proposed role to tighten nutrition standards this fall. i guess the question is, will usda enforce those standards in schools? we have a situation where, they are fighting the inflation cost, labor cost, and also the price of these because they are in a situation where many of these are special products that are not made as much, and not as profitable. are you confident that schools will have access to food that will meet the usda's new standards? have we done any work in looking at what that is going to do towards increasing costs and availability? sec. vilsack: it is not a full application of the new fission standards. it is a bridge to a longer-term recommitment to the health standards. at the time we propose this, we were hopeful. i remain and continue to be hopeful that congress finds a way to provide the resources to schools with universal free meals for another year. with any authority we have that will expire at the end of june of this year.

senator boozman, do you have anything you can say? >> i'm good introduce this three witnesses that i invited to testify today's hearing. senator marshall, wanted his two from the arkansas river valley. these are all leading experts in their fields with decades of experience in the sustainable management of water from snow pack to forests, streams and wetlands, all of whom spent years partnering with diverse groups across the west and manage our water resources and we that preserves our economy and we have life for the next generation. our first witness, mr. andrew mueller, is the longtime leader in western water issues with extensive policy issues. he currently serves as general manager of the colorado river water conservation district headquarters in glen wood springs, colorado, the river district leads the production conservation management of the colorado river her 15 western carl counties along with broader use of the river water in my state. the colorado river district has led efforts to detect trickle water flows to sustain agri

arkansas senator john boozman led the fight to get congressional approval.e has come to ensure. >> we have a dedicated landmark. honoring the valor and the dedication. of our loved ones. ers and their >> the memorial scheduled to open to the public by veterans day in 2024. reporting in washington, i'm basil. john congress is giving its ultimate salute to hershel woody williams. the last remaining medal of honor recipient from world war 2 who died at the age of 98. it's a tribute reserved for the nation's most distinguished citizens as young marine corporal fighting in the battle of the wood jima. williams went ahead of his unit and eliminated a series of japanese machine gun positions. he joined civil rights icon rosa parks. reverend billy graham. and for u.s. capitol police officers who in the nation's history have lain in honor of the capitol rotunda. >> a man bitten by a shark off the coast of monterey county last month has survived to tell the tale he was released from the hospital and so salinas yesterday. he is talking about the shock of that experienc

boozman: thank you, madam president. i rise today with my fellow senator from arkansas, senator cotton, to honor jeremiah james' story, a perry county detention center officer who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty last month. born in conway, arkansas, jeremiah was a 2020 graduate of bigelow high school. even as a young person, he was a dedicated public servant who loved his community and his country. in addition to working as a detention officer, he also served in the army national guard and aspired to become a state trooper. he wore his uniforms with pride and was passionate about giving back to others in a variety of ways. there is no gesture too small or unimportant for him to offer. jeremiah was also a man of deep faith who never let pass an opportunity to share it with others. he devoted his life to following his lord and savior and was a long-time member of river view baptist church where he routinely encouraged people he met to attend services with him. with his christian belief as his hope and guide

inaudible conversations] >> there's a good friend of mine worked on my 2014 campaign and managed john boozman's campaign when he was first elected and my counterpart and kind a published figure and to her time-- we had a good lt. governor and attorney general, but they had their eye on the gubernatorial race for a long time and then they started running early last year, but they entered the race and ended up -- [inaudible conversations] he was elected lt. governor in a special election, and-- which meant our governor and lt. governor and how democratic it was, mike ran for senate 38 or 39 and lost, 62-38. >> really. >> and a democratic state for the longest time and summer of 1993 he won the special election, only running republican, five democrats thought it was the-- they beat each other up and mike was on the side and in a, you know, this time of year working out not a high turnout, and mike won by a few percentage points and then a landslide, but three quarters democratic majority in the state house and senate and they just-- let's say they did not take well to losing the governor's office