In case you missed it, here is a sampling of what we worked on this week:

• No Budget, No Pay: It’s been 1,365 days since the Senate passed a binding federal budget resolution and while we are required to adopt a budget, there is no penalty for failing to do so. Our No Budget, No Pay Act introduced this week would change that. 

• New Gun Laws Are Not the Answer: In light of the new gun control legislation unveiled this week in the Senate, I feel it is important to share my response to President Obama’s recent speech again as it applies here as well. New gun control laws are not the answer.
  
  
• Disaster Assistance:  The Congressional delegation sent a letter to President Obama and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate supporting Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe’s request for a disaster declaration for Central Arkansas following severe December snow storms and widespread power outages.  This is an important step in our efforts to bring assistance to the state after last Christmas’s severe winter storm.
  
  
• Build the Keystone Pipeline: Nebraska Governor David Heineman approved the revised Keystone XL pipeline route this week.  This puts the Obama administration back on the clock. The president is running out of excuses for delaying the project.
  
  
• NLRB “Recess” Appoints Ruled Unconstitutional: Last year, President Obama made a series of unprecedented recess appointments during a time when the Senate was in regular proceedings. This extraordinary power-grab required the president to alter the definition of recess. Not only did it violate hundreds of years of Senate precedent, but it violated the law. Today, the court ruled that President Obama had indeed overstepped his authority and invalidated three appointments to the National Labor Relations Board that had been made without Senate confirmation.