Raised in an Air Force family, U.S. Representative Rick Crawford has lived all over the United States and in England. His parents instilled in him a devotion to service from a young age. Those simple life lessons have remained with Rick, and are at the forefront of his mind when working on creating a more prosperous America for future generations.
Since our nation’s beginning, when the Constitution provided Congress with the power to establish roads and regulate commerce, the federal government has played a major role in providing our Country with improvements to transportation and infrastructure. Arkansas is blessed with miles of major corridors on both land and water. Farmers and businesses depend on our nation’s interstate and inland waterway systems to transport their goods throughout the country and the world.
As a Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I am committed to ensuring that our nation's transportation system is safe and efficient. Our Country’s diverse and distant communities are united together, and commerce thrives, particularly because the American people have always understood the importance of a unified and organized transportation system. Maintaining and strengthening our infrastructure provides unparalleled return on taxpayer investment, and will employ thousands of Arkansans as well as encourage businesses to set up shop in Arkansas.
Accomplishments During the 114th Congress:
The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act – the FAST Act is a five-year highway program authorization that provides much-needed certainty for states and local governments to plan and undertake long-term, complex projects. The FAST Act refocuses programs on national priorities, including nationally and regionally significant projects and the movement of freight. States and local governments will have more flexibility with funds to address their unique infrastructure needs, and the environmental review and project approval processes are streamlined to accelerate project delivery.
Crawford Amendments
+ Interstate designation for U.S. 63 – now I-555 - Jonesboro and other parts of northeast Arkansas now have interstate access, a crucial component for economic development.
+ Drug Free Commercial Driver Act of 2015 – Allows motor carriers to use hair testing as an acceptable alternative to urinalysis for detecting use of controlled substances by commercial vehicle operator
+Permitting two light- and medium-duty trailers to be towed together under specific conditions, instead of only one at a time
The Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act – the WIIN Act improves America's water resources infrastructure by authorizing needed investment in America's ports, channels, locks, and dams, without use of tolls or lockage fees. It returns Congress to the two-year cycle of considering water project authorization legislation to ensure proper Congressional oversight of the U.S. Corps of Engineers, and enables Congress to address the Nation’s water resources development needs. The WIIN Act keeps American jobs in America by strengthening competitiveness and ensuring transportation systems remain attractive.