Sen. John Boozman (R., Ark.) used to have a “respectable profession,” as an eye doctor. And since 2001, he’s moved from medicine to serve Arkansans in the House and now in the Senate, where he may soon chair the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

“Democrats are not investing in rural America, and they are not coming through with the kind of programs that it takes to shore up things,” he told the Washington Reporter. “A lot of those dollars are going to urban America, and so we need an all of the above approach to the farm community.” President Donald Trump, he added, had a stellar record on agricultural issues, and Boozman has “no reason to believe that he’s not going to take care of the farm economy, take care of farms, because he knows how important that aspect of America is.”

American farmers need for a Farm Bill, he noted, which “is really a safety net for our farmers.” Boozman wants to “update” it, noting that it’s “very, very behind because of inflation.” During the Biden-Harris administration, the farming community “had the biggest drop in farm income last year, and will have a bigger drop in farm income this year, the biggest ever, so the two biggest ever right in a row,” leading to higher food prices for Americans. 

Boozman, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, also wants to “clear the deck in a fiscally responsible manner, but go ahead clear the deck this fall, and get the new administration the ability to set priorities and go forward and not have all of this hanging over them.”

The Senator has also taken interest in cryptocurrency, and has pushed back on Democrats’ “tendency to overregulate.” While the crypto industry could become “the Wild West” without proper regulation, Boozman said he’s noticed that the “Democrats have not been very forthcoming with cryptocurrency, so that’s why they’re jumping in now and trying this last minute push.” Vice President Kamala Harris recently launched a crypto for Harris coalition, with help from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.). 

Boozman would like the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to take the lead on regulating the industry, because “a lot of cryptocurrencies are not securities, they’re not money, they’re more like a commodity like gold.” Democrats could move the industry overseas, he warned.

In the hours before the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the Arkansas lawmaker also previewed some likely attacks by Republicans on Democrats heading into November. The top issue Boozman hears about in Arkansas “is inflation,” but he also added that “there’s no energy policy, except for the pie-in-the-sky, ‘let’s electrify everything without providing infrastructure’ idea.”

Finally, he discussed national security threats that have escalated under the watch of the Biden-Harris administration: Israel is “on the verge of a regional war”; China is “rebuilding or building their defense forces right now”; Russia “is a bully”; and there are concerns of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. “If Iran goes nuclear, Saudi Arabia will go nuclear, Turkey will go nuclear,” he said. 

Below is a transcript of our interview with Sen. John Boozman, lightly edited for clarity.

Washington Reporter:
The Democratic National Convention kicks off tonight. Tell us from both an Arkansas standpoint and from your Senate standpoint about your thoughts on the Biden-Harris administration, and what a Harris-Walz administration would mean. What do these administrations represent on agriculture policy, national security, and our economy? 

Sen. John Boozman:
When you compare the record of the Trump administration with the Biden-Harris administration, I don’t care what metric you use, we’re in trouble now. I’m working with the farming community which had the biggest drop in farm income last year, and will have a bigger drop in farm income this year, the biggest ever, so the two biggest evers right in a row, and because of that, rural America and our farmers are in trouble. That will translate over to higher food costs in the future. We’re so blessed — we’ve got the cheapest, safest food supply of anybody in the world. That doesn’t just happen. It’s like turning on the lights, which, again, energy has gone up so much, those lights cost a lot more than they used to. And if you look at the policies that the current administration has, as they are allowed to continue, and those energy costs are going to continue to go up, because there’s no energy policy, except for the pie-in-the-sky, “let’s electrify everything without providing infrastructure” idea. So there’s so many things. Certainly, the border is a huge problem, the lawlessness there. And the thing that I hear the most about is inflation. If you’re just a hardworking family — and most Americans are just hard working families struggling to get by — the reason they don’t have a disposable income is because everything costs so much. So there are a lot of problems and really no solutions on the table except essentially trying to spend your way out of it, which simply doesn’t work. 

Washington Reporter:
And what about on the Appropriations Committee side of things? What are the stakes you see there with both our defense policy and national security ramifications of Democrats potentially having four more years in the White House? 

Sen. John Boozman:
Well certainly we live in a very, very dangerous world. We’re seeing that right now with Israel on the verge of a regional war. That’s going to make a big difference to so many nations, including our own, as we’re swept up in that in some way. We’re not going to have boots on the ground, anything like that, but the disruption to the shipping lines, the list goes on and on. These are important things. You look at China, when you look at the way that they are rebuilding or building their defense forces right now, the Navy, the Air Force, everything dwarfs us. Russia is a bully and the Ukrainians are doing a good job of taking it to them. But you look at a nuclear Iran in the future, if Iran goes nuclear, Saudi Arabia will go nuclear, Turkey will go nuclear. We’d have nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. I’m a big peace through strength guy. We don’t need to be interfering in lots of places. But I think the way that you prevent these things from happening in the first place is just having the ability to project strength through your military that you don’t have to use because you have it. The other thing that’s so important is a healthy economy. That’s really where the United States devolves its power, because our economy is so mighty.

Washington Reporter:
There’s obviously some uncertainty about what will happen with appropriations between now and both the election and the end of the year. There’s going to be a new president, regardless of whether it’s Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. What is your ideal appropriations outcome? What do you think should be going on with funding the government? Do you want to try and wait and see how the election goes? Do you want to get things resolved before then? What’s your vantage point there? 

Sen. John Boozman:
Well, to be honest, I could argue it either way, since you’re going to have a new administration. Do you want to essentially take last Congress’s work, last year’s work, and then dump that on the new administration, which I hope is the Trump administration? Do you want to make it such that they have to do what they need to be doing for that year, plus last year, along with recalibrating the government? So it’s a big problem when you start delaying. Having the CR, the problem with that, is that it’s very inefficient, and it actually winds up costing many, many billions of dollars to do that. You can imagine that if you have any situation where you had to keep spending money exactly like you spent the year before, regardless of the change of circumstances, as you go into the new year. So these are big things. I would like to see us go ahead and clear the deck in a fiscally responsible manner, but go ahead clear the deck this fall, and get the new administration the ability to set priorities and go forward and not have all of this hanging over them. That really makes it very, very difficult.

Washington Reporter:
If Republicans obviously take the Senate back, you’re in the driver’s seat to be the chair of the Agriculture Committee. What would your priorities be?

Sen. John Boozman:
The biggest problem we’ve got right now is we have a Farm Bill, and the Farm Bill is really a safety net for our farmers. Through farm insurance and programs like that, they’re able to plant a crop, and they know that there’s a floor. They’re not going to risk everything. It’s just like an insurance program, unless things are really bad and you’ve lost a lot. We need to update that. It’s very, very behind because of inflation. It costs so much more, the safety net has improved, but we’re in a situation now where, if you look at farmers and they’re penciling it in right now, because of the very high input costs and low commodity prices, it simply doesn’t pencil out. They’re not only going to not make profit, but they’re going to lose money planting a crop. And so that just doesn’t work. You can imagine what that does to rural America, to farmers, ranchers, and foresters. We have to invest in rural America. We have to support our ag economy. We need to do that in a way that is very fiscally responsible, but we simply aren’t going to have an agricultural system continue to have the cheapest, safest food supply of anybody if we don’t update the program. So that’s the biggest thing, investing in rural America, investing in farmers.

Washington Reporter:
Can you talk about what that means for your constituents back in Arkansas, which is obviously a very agriculture-heavy state? Are there priorities for you on the home front side in agriculture that you feel like are currently being neglected by either the Biden administration or the current focus of the Agriculture Committee since it is run by Democrats?

Sen. John Boozman:
Look at most of our states — and I’ve had the opportunity to be in 20 some states in the last year and a half — and agriculture usually is the top GDP producer. You go to California, it’s not quite there, but California’s ag industry is bigger than most countries’ ag industries. But they’re such a big state, they’ve got so much going on. Texas again, not number one. I think it’s one in seven jobs in Texas. But when you look at rural America in the last census, 53 percent of our counties lost population. So you’re losing population. Start losing those turnback dollars, and you don’t have a whole lot to begin with. It’s very, very difficult. So that’s really where we’re at now. Democrats are not investing in rural America, and they are not coming through with the kind of programs that it takes to shore up things. A lot of those dollars are going to urban America, and so we need an all of the above approach to the farm community. I have great respect for President Trump, and he was good to them, and there’s no reason to believe that he won’t be again. Past performance was indicative of the future, and I have no reason to believe that he’s not going to take care of the farm economy, take care of farms, because he knows how important that aspect of America is.

Washington Reporter:
One of the other areas that you’ve had some innovative proposals on is cryptocurrency. The Harris campaign is rolling out Crypto for Harris, and they are trying to even bring Chuck Schumer on board for Crypto for Harris. What is your vision on what the government’s role in that sphere should be? You had a bill last Congress, and now you’re not on board with Senator Debbie Stabenow’s bill on this. What is your vision on what this should look like?

Sen. John Boozman:
Well, I’ve really had two goals with crypto, and I’m not a crypto guy. I don’t own any cryptocurrency or anything like that, but I do think it needs to be regulated to protect the public. I also think it needs to be regulated for the industry to grow. You can like it or not like it, but 20 percent of Americans are invested in it somehow, which is hard to believe, and it is something that’s a technology that has created all kinds of positive things to be used with other applications. So in order for the industry to grow, they understand that they need regulation. And for the investment vehicles, the large banks, retirement funds. But again, it’s the Wild West. Now they need regulation. So the industry understands that the consumer needs regulation to be in place, because right now it’s the Wild West. I’ve said let’s get a bill together. We have jurisdiction, because a lot of cryptocurrencies are not securities, they’re not money, they’re more like a commodity like gold. And so the CFTC has the commodities, and part of that is under Agriculture. We are working towards trying to get a bill together that the industry will accept, and that they can live with so they can continue to grow, that provides regulation. And so far, certainly, it’s been difficult, and the Democrats have not been very forthcoming with cryptocurrency, so that’s why they’re jumping in now and trying this last minute push. But it’s a very difficult subject that needs to be done right. However, I’m not committed to just willy-nilly doing something.

Washington Reporter:
What do you think explains the difference? This is obviously a new concept in how Republicans and Democrats are approaching this regulatory sphere of cryptocurrency. Do you think Democrats are concerned about things that you aren’t concerned with? Why do you think they see it so differently? 

Sen. John Boozman:
I think Democrats just have a tendency to overregulate. They want consumer protection, but you have to do that in such a way where industry can grow. What you don’t want is to overregulate it such that the industry can’t be successful here in the United States and it moves overseas, and people in the United States will continue to invest in it through foreign vehicles, but you have no control. This thing is such that it’s growing at a pace, we’re not there yet, but it’s growing at a pace that without regulation, it could be the little thing that sets off a much bigger financial problem. So for all these reasons, it needs to be regulated. The Democrats’ tendency is just to overregulate. That’s really what I’m seeing.

Washington Reporter:
Prior to entering politics, you were an eye doctor. Do you feel like something that’s given you a helpful vision that prepared you for the career that you’ve been on — and the transformation of Arkansas from one of the most Democratic states to one of the most Republican ones?

Sen. John Boozman:
I tell people I like being introduced as an eye doctor. That’s a respectable profession. The latest poll I saw had Congress at a 17 percent approval rate. So that’s not very good. But I think what really helped me was that I was in a service profession, so we were taking care of people. I really believe that that’s what government should be all about: taking care of people, trying to figure out policies that they can thrive on. The other thing is we had a small business. We had 75 employees. I understand how difficult it is in the real world making payroll. I understand the difficulties as costs go up. I think just being a businessman, being again, in a service-oriented industry really helped me. We’re blessed. 

In Arkansas, we’ve had a number of good candidates through the years. I so appreciate Tom Cotton being the senator along with me in Arkansas. He’s done a tremendous job. He’s such a great voice on national security issues, I was with a group the other day in Arkansas with Tom, and I told them, this is a guy that, when he speaks America’s decision makers here are listening, but literally the entire world perks up to what he says, so we’re blessed because of good candidates. We’re also blessed because of just the makeup of Arkansans, wanting to be left alone, wanting to try and limit government and do the best they can, just that we can do it mentality, getting rid of regulations is important, but they don’t want to be unnecessarily regulated. And certainly that’s what happened under the Obama administration and now the Biden-Harris administration.

Washington Reporter:
And that’s a great segue to my final question which ties back to the DNC. Right now we’re seeing Kamala Harris try to disconnect herself from the Biden-Harris administration. But how do you see the policies of the past four years, which she was in the driver’s seat for, affecting both small businesses, like the one you had, and also farmers, specifically in Arkansas?

Sen. John Boozman:
It’s so surprising. I feel like I have been consistent since I ran for Congress several years ago, and then I moved into the Senate. But the idea that you can take your positions of four years ago, when you’re running for president, that are totally different from what she’s saying now, and totally different from what the Biden administration’s trying to do, is crazy. The good thing is that we’ve had, for the last two years, the House to put the brakes on these policies, and the Senate, through using the filibuster, can kind of keep things under control. I would be pilloried in Arkansas if I made that kind of an about-face, it’s unbelievable. So that’s the important thing, as we get into perhaps some debates, other vehicles that really force Vice President Harris to actually explain how you can make these total 180s of your positions in just a few years. It’s really remarkable. And I think that’s her Achilles’ heel, and I think that as America really gets to know her and understand what she’s all about is going to make a huge difference. 

Washington Reporter:
Senator Boozman, thanks so much for your time today.