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Boozman shares memories of Northwest Arkansas veteran for Hispanic Heritage Month

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) recognized the service and sacrifice of Maddie Willyard in ‘Salute to Veterans,’ a series highlighting the military service of Arkansans.

Maddie Willyard - U.S. Air Force Veteran

Willyard was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Chicago when she was 7 years old. In high school, her family moved to a northern suburb because of safety concerns.

While Willyard’s family has a history of military service, her path to wearing our nation’s uniform started as a result of trying to avoid an angry teacher who was upset she did not complete her homework. 

“This voice came over the intercom – juniors and seniors are excused from classes to take the ASVAB. I didn’t know what the ASVAB was. I just knew it was like manna from heaven and off I went,” she said.

She quickly learned the exam was the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, an indicator of future success in the miliary.

“I did very well. Got lots of calls and visited with recruiters. At that point I had thought of my future. We talked about community college. I wanted to be a journalist. I also wanted to be a teacher and I ended up joining the Air Force,” Willyard said. “I was 16 and shallow still and didn’t think green looked very good on me,” she laughed.

Willyard said her mom was supportive, but her stepdad was horrified because he didn’t think military service was something young women should pursue. 

After graduating high school in May, Willyard started service in the Air Force in November and attended basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio. 

Her uncles who served in uniform advised her to stay under the radar. This included getting a bunk furthest away from the training instructor’s office. She followed the advice, but wasn’t there for long after she confronted another airman who was making the unit late to morning formation because she was curling her hair. 

“We were so involved in our conversation that we didn’t even notice our training instructor was there until he yelled,” Willyard said. “He looked at me and he goes ‘You want to be in charge? You want my job?’ And I said ‘Sir, no sir.’”

The instructor made her squad leader and she was moved to the bed closest to his office.

Following basic training, Willyard was assigned to medical administration and continued her education at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. She found the classes interesting and appreciated the freedom and community feel of the base.

“It was the best time of my life.” 

She calls the people she was training with family, so much so that when she received her first-choice duty station at a base in California, she was devastated to see a friend’s disappointment about her assignment to England Air Force Base, Louisiana.

“That girl cried for two days and it broke my heart,” Willyard said. Her empathy and compassion led her to trade assignment locations with her friend.

In Louisiana, Willyard worked in medical records where she helped organize and sort patient files.

“I also learned valuable lessons about customer service. You picked up the phone and you picked it up on the first ring. And you didn’t know if you were going to be talking to another airman like yourself or if you were going to be talking to a full bird colonel,” she said. 

She surrounded herself with mentors who aimed to see her do well and taught her skills that she still uses today.

Her time in uniform is something that has been valuable to her life and work. She says it opened doors for her and she encourages those interested in military service to be ready for hard and rewarding work.

“I tell them be prepared to sacrifice because it’s not about you. It’s about the mission and you’re choosing an occupation with so much honor and history. This country wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for soldiers, so you need to respect that. It’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle. It’s not something you should go into lightly,” she said. “And enjoy it.” 

Today, Willyard lives in Northwest Arkansas and has found a calling to give back to her fellow veterans. She served in the Washington County Veteran Service Office before joining Boozman’s staff where she supports the needs of active-duty military, veterans and their families. 

“I’m grateful for Maddie Willyard’s service to our country in uniform and her continued support of her fellow veterans. We can be proud of her advocacy of the military and the important role it has had in her life. I’m pleased to preserve her memories of service,” Boozman said.

Boozman submitted Willyard’s entire interview to the Veterans History Project, an initiative of the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center to collect and retain the oral histories of our nation’s veterans.

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Boozman Details Senate Republican Farm Bill Framework

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WASHINGTON— U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, detailed how the recently released Republican farm bill framework puts “more farm in the farm bill” and how it can be used as the basis for a bipartisan path forward in a speech on the Senate floor. 

“We believe that our framework reflects the chamber’s shared commitments across all twelve titles while putting more farm in the farm bill, something we’ve been calling for since the onset,” Boozman said. “Our farmers, ranchers, foresters, consumers, lenders and other stakeholders helped us fashion a farm bill that meets their varying needs. It’s a delicate balance… …but on the agriculture committee, we have shown we can come together to carry these heavy lifts across the finish line.”

The following are Boozman’s remarks as prepared:

Mr. President, 

Prior to breaking for the Memorial Day recess, the House Agriculture Committee did something few beltway pundits thought was possible.

The committee approved, in a bipartisan manner, a farm bill that meets the needs of farmers, ranchers, foresters, rural communities and consumers across America.

I commend Chairman GT Thompson for his stewardship of this bill through an open process that let every committee member have a say in the bill.

Likewise, I want to express my appreciation for each of the members that voted to advance this legislation out of committee.

Chairwoman Stabenow also recently released her farm bill framework, putting the Senate Majority’s priorities on paper and advancing the discussion forward.

Cumulatively, these efforts exhibit the first real progress toward passage of a new farm bill since the process began two years ago.

This week, Republicans on the agriculture committee are building on that momentum by releasing our farm bill framework.

We believe that our framework reflects the chamber’s shared commitments across all twelve titles while putting more farm in the farm bill, something we’ve been calling for since the onset.

And let’s talk about what that means.

It means we direct additional resources to the tools farmers rely upon -- and they are calling for us to invest in -- while ensuring we do no harm to our nutrition programs, which account for over eighty percent of the bill’s baseline spending. 

For example, we double funding for the farm bill’s premiere trade programs to help increase our competitiveness overseas.

This is desperately needed considering we are projected to see a record $32 billion agricultural trade deficit this year.

U.S. farmers have been able to point to their positive trade balance in agriculture as a source of pride for the better part of the last 50 years as they worked to feed, clothe and fuel the world.

Unfortunately, this administration’s refusal to engage on the issue has created an agricultural trade imbalance that is projected to reach record heights and is showing no signs of slowing.

Our framework can help reverse this unsustainable trend.

Another area where we double funding is agricultural research.

Our public-sector investment in agricultural research lags other developed economies and has fallen by more than a third over the past two decades.

This is another concerning trend that our framework can help reverse.

Agricultural research programs spur innovation and productivity -- allowing farmers to produce more while using less and in an environmentally friendly manner, even as threats from pests, diseases and unpredictable weather become more common. 

Not only do our farmers gain in the long-term, but our land-grant institutions and colleges of agriculture who conduct groundbreaking research see immediate benefits— a win-win investment.

We also make a historic investment in the conservation title while ensuring programs remain locally-led and flexible.

Farmers, ranchers and foresters have diverse conservation needs and our framework reflects that, providing equity across practices to address drought, water quality, wildlife habitat biodiversity, soil erosion and climate resiliency while continuing to provide for carbon sequestrating and greenhouse gas reducing practices.

Our framework increases funding in the conservation title by more than 25% every single year moving forward while making sure its programs continue to empower producers to make the best decisions to meet the resource concerns of their operation.  

Our farmers, ranchers and foresters also need investments in the communities they call home, and our framework makes those too.

It is no secret that rural America has seen more than its share of difficulties over the past few years.

Recent census data shows over half the nation’s rural counties have lost population.

These communities must have the modern infrastructure necessary to attract and retain talent.

Our framework offers help by making significant investments in small business development, broadband expansion, water and energy infrastructure programs, as well as funds to increase access to rural healthcare, childcare and public safety.

Most importantly, putting more farm in the farm bill requires a modernized farm safety net. 

We accomplish this by giving producers access to risk management tools that reflect the nature of the challenges under which they operate.

And as I’ve stressed before, this isn’t an either-or decision—meaning farmers won’t be forced to choose between crop insurance and vital Title One programs.

Our framework makes crop insurance more accessible and affordable and makes meaningful increases to statutory reference prices for all producers, of all commodities, in every region.

The safety net programs our farmers operate under right now are outdated.

We cannot consider a farm bill that fails to recognize and protect farmers from the historic inflation in input costs they now face on the farm.

The world, and agriculture in particular, are in a much different place today than they were during the last farm bill.

Farmers are already experiencing unprecedented challenges and economic uncertainty for the crops they are sowing into the ground right now.

This follows historic inflation, a record trade deficit, rising interest rates, devastating natural disasters, and geopolitical unrest that have shrunk the bottom line for farmers.

Under this President, U.S. farmers have seen the largest decline in farm income of all time.

And like I said, that is only expected to get worse if we fail to put more farm in the farm bill.

In my home state of Arkansas, where agriculture accounts for about a quarter of the state’s GDP, inflation adjusted net farm income is expected to decline by more than 40% compared to 2 years ago. 

This trend is playing out across the nation, which is why reference price increases have been the top ask from farmers at the over twenty farm bill roundtables my colleagues and I have held around the country. 

While each of these states have diverse agriculture economies, the refrain has been consistent. 

In fact, it was at one of my earliest roundtables in North Dakota where the mantra of “more farm in the farm bill” was born. 

It wasn’t a Republican senator who first said it.

It was a plea from a farmer. 

And that is what this is truly about.

Our farmers, ranchers, foresters, consumers, lenders and other stakeholders helped us fashion a farm bill that meets their varying needs.

It’s a delicate balance made even more difficult this time around by the way actions taken outside of the farm bill have impacted our baseline. 

But on the agriculture committee we have shown we can come together to carry these heavy lifts across the finish line.

I have been proud to partner with Chairwoman Stabenow to shepherd significant reforms into law on priority issues, particularly in the climate and nutrition spaces.

Together, we worked to enact the Growing Climate Solutions Act, making it easier for producers to participate in emerging voluntary carbon credit markets.

And we passed that bill with the support of over ninety of our colleagues.

In the nutrition space, we worked to pass the Keep Kids Fed Act which extended needed flexibilities to schools and meal providers for an additional year at a time when supply chain breakdowns persisted and food costs soared because of inflation. 

Perhaps the achievement I am most proud of was our successful effort to modernize the outdated summer meals program to reach more food-insecure children, in both rural and urban communities, filling the gap children face during the months when classes are out.  

Marking the first substantial reform to the summer meals program in over sixty years, this investment of over $20 billion ensures that children will never again face hunger in the summer months.

That is what our work here is all about.

Identifying a problem, and then coming together to solve it. 

We’ve proven we can do that in the past.

I believe, with all my heart, that we can do it again by passing a bipartisan farm bill.

 

I look forward to taking our two frameworks, forging a bipartisan farm bill and passing it into law before the 118th session of Congress comes to a close.

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VIDEO: "What's Up, Doc?" with Dr. Randy Walker

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This week on "What's Up Doc?", Dr. Randy and Cody Gallagher of Pilgrim's Pride announce a new partnership between Pilgrim's and the Walker Clinic that will enable Pilgrim's employees and their families to save money on healthcare.