By Rep. Jodey Arrington Hiding in the shadows cast by big city outbreaks, the novel coronavirus has now quickly spread to more than 1,000 rural communities. This pandemic's sweep of our nation's prairies and plains comes as hundreds of rural hospitals are on the verge of closure, potentially leaving tens of thousands of people without access to local emergency health services during the contagion's peak and permanently devastating rural economies. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, almost half of all rural hospitals were operating at a financial loss. In fact, over the past decade, 128 rural hospitals shut down as a result of financial pressure, and 400 were at risk of closing prior to the pandemic, according to the National Rural Health Association. Today, much like small businesses across the country, hospitals have been asked to halt all nonemergency services. This abrupt termination of core services and key revenue streams in rural communities is forcing hospitals to forgo 60% to 80% of their revenue. Consequently, nearly all hospitals in our breadbasket and energy basin are experiencing revenue shortages at catastrophic levels. This has forced the only facilities available to the often-forgotten men and women of rural America to lay off staff, issue massive cuts, and in some cases, shutter their operations entirely. If these community hospitals are unable to access emergency relief funding within days, we could see hundreds of closures across the nation. Rural Americans served by these hospitals are disproportionately old, poor, and sick, meaning that when the surge hits these rural communities, the mortality rates will likely be disproportionately high. These abandoned healthcare refuges only add to the many miles between life and death situations for the families who feed and fuel the rest of our country. For much of rural America, the surge has already arrived. John Henderson, president and CEO of the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals, said that Donley County, in the panhandle of Texas, "has a COVID case rate of 6.50 per 1,000 population, which is 10 times higher than any metro area of Texas, yet the community is 60 miles from a hospital due to closures." Similarly, Margaret Mary Health, a 25-bed facility in rural Batesville, Indiana, has been in a coronavirus hot spot for the last two weeks. "We are usually 80% outpatient and 20% inpatient, and we are trying to convert to 30% outpatient and 250% inpatient," said Tim Putnam, CEO of the hospital. Our nation's leaders cannot leave rural America without resources to combat this pandemic. It is essential that these facilities, critical in the fight against COVID-19, can access the Paycheck Protection Program. This temporary and targeted assistance will be a lifeline to healthcare professionals and hospitals, which, in many cases, are the largest employers in the community. As we move forward, relief and recovery packages must provide equitable support for rural communities and their providers to do what they do best -- take care of rural Americans. As we continue to battle against the contagion through social distancing and practicing good hygiene, lives can only be saved by flattening the curve of rural hospital closures. Jodey Arrington, a Republican, is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives serving Texas's 19th Congressional District. He serves as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and as co-chair of the Committee's Rural Health Care Task Force.

By Jodey Arrington Major negotiation breakthroughs with our North American trade partners as well as China sent the stock market to record highs last week but, more importantly, sent a message from the U.S. to our international partners and adversaries alike: "America First' is not just a campaign slogan, it's the new reality. Instead of being beholden to the whims and wishes of other global economic superpowers, America is now negotiating from a position of strength, enabling us to control our own economic destiny in the 21st Century. After years of watching our jobs shipped overseas and agriculture exports plummet, our nation has made a much-needed course correction -- one that will bring a brighter future for our farmers and ranchers, energy producers, and workers in West Texas who, perhaps more than anyone, understand the costs and consequences of trade imbalances that affect their livelihood. The future of economic prosperity for America depends on freer markets at home and greater access to consumers abroad. Together, passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in Congress and the prospects of a "Phase One" trade deal with China are generating even more optimism for the people and businesses that turn the gears on the largest and most diverse economic engine in the world. USMCA will add nearly $70 billion to the U.S. economy, create more than 170,000 new jobs, and grow U.S. agriculture exports by an additional $2.2 billion annually. In District 19 alone, Canada and Mexico account for 40 percent of our total exports, and nearly half of all trade-related jobs are connected to our North American neighbors. Under the "Phase One" deal announced earlier this month, China has committed to purchasing at least $200 billion worth of American exports, doubling its imports of U.S. goods over the next two years. Even more important than the substantial increase in Chinese purchases of U.S. agriculture products, the deal also includes structural reforms like ending currency manipulation and protecting intellectual property, allowing our producers and manufacturers to compete and win on a level playing field. These recent successes are only the beginning of a turning point for American trade and, by extension, for agriculture and energy economies like ours in West Texas and across the country. President Trump and his chief trade negotiator, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, have been applying maximum pressure -- including using tariffs as a tool -- to force other nations into better and fairer deals for the U.S. Make no mistake: these painful but necessary negotiating tactics caused China to drop from the second-largest market for U.S. agriculture products to the fifth-largest in just the past two years, with $10 billion in lost exports for U.S. farmers. That's why, ultimately, we must seek to offset the Chinese export market by accessing new markets and reaching new customers in the EU, UK, and Indo-Pacific region. This means building upon the recent successes in achieving better trade parity for the United States in North America and other global economic powers like Japan -- which recently agreed to reduce or eliminate tariffs on more than $7 billion of U.S. agriculture exports. USMCA is supported on both sides of the aisle and represents not only more economic activity with our neighbors to the north and south, but also a model framework for enhancing other trade agreements across the globe. Building on the historic tax cuts and regulatory relief, freer and fairer trade for the U.S. means greater prosperity for the next generation of agriculture and energy producers. That's why it was important for West Texas to have a seat on Ways and Means -- the Committee that sets U.S. trade policy -- to ensure a level playing field for our farmers and new markets for our food, fuel, and fiber.

By: Jodey Arrington After almost two years of independent investigation and $30 million in taxpayer dollars spent, this week the Justice Department released to the public the full Mueller Report. As his findings clearly show, the Special Counsel investigation was thorough, the Trump Administration was transparent, and the conclusions were definitive -- there was no collusion or coordination with Russia by the President or his campaign. While I'm pleased with the outcome for the sake of our great country as well as the President whose vision for our nation I share, I am deeply concerned for the integrity of our democracy. Like the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing, we must never allow this to become the new normal in American politics. Many questions remain as to the genesis and legitimacy of these allegations, the depth and breadth of political bias and corruption at the DOJ, and the potential involvement of the Obama Administration. Remember, this whole thing began with the lead FBI investigator saying he was building an "insurance policy" against Trump in the event he was elected president and senior Department of Justice officials who allowed a Clinton Campaign "hit piece" to become the basis for a FISA Court warrant to spy on American citizens -- unbeknownst to the FISA judges. Congress would be derelict in its duty not to pursue these allegations with equal diligence and hold all wrongdoers accountable. Abuse of power and political bias at the highest law enforcement agency in the land isn't a Republican or Democrat problem, it's an American problem. I can appreciate those who disagree with the President's policies or leadership style (I certainly have from time to time), but the way to address those concerns is to contrast him in substance and style in the public square and, ultimately, at the ballot box. That's how a democratic Republic should operate. To weaponize our criminal justice system as well as the oversight responsibility of Congress sets a dangerous precedent. We must relearn, on both sides of the aisle, how to dissent and even defeat our political adversaries without trying to destroy them as people. This is one of the worst parts of the Swamp Culture and the majority of our citizens are sick of it. I have never begrudged my colleagues on either side of the aisle for expressing their concerns about President Trump for something he said or did. But, for the Democrat leadership to propagate a false narrative about the President of the United States -- going so far as to tell the American people they had evidence of collusion -- to sow doubt and discord among our citizens regarding this President for political purposes is worse than petty, it's flat out wrong. The American people can now know with certainty that the Russians acted alone to undermine the integrity of our presidential election, and the Democratic leadership acted in coordination with the Left to undermine the American Presidency. What remains to be seen is if this Russian collusion conspiracy theory will be a cautionary tale to our fellow citizens and serve as a course correction for our country, or merely a preview of what is to come. This whole ordeal harkens back to another episode in American history, one more than 200 years ago. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, following weeks of debate and deliberation, our founders finally settled on a form of government they felt suitable for a nascent nation. When asked by a prominent Philadelphia lady "Well, Doctor, what have we got--a Republic or a Monarchy?," our oldest Founder, Benjamin Franklin, responded, "A republic, Madam, if you can keep it." Franklin's words serve as a powerful reminder that America's future as the great "experiment in liberty and democracy" isn't assured or inevitable. The annals of history are replete with examples of powerful and prosperous nations that have come and gone. By and large, their undoing wasn't the result of uncontrollable forces or external factors; it was because they had abandoned their core values and could no longer govern themselves. Franklin's admonition is as relevant today as it was in 1787. We cannot allow our political bloodlust to overcome our love of country. Let's learn from history, close this ugly chapter in American politics, and return to the people's business.