{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/arkansas-delegation-supports-governors-request-major-disaster", "Arkansas Delegation Supports Governor\u2019s Request for Major Disaster Declaration", "2023-03-21", "2023", "2023-03", "Republican", "House", "AR", "Bruce Westerman", "W000821", "westerman.house.gov", "westerman", "https://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014 U.S. Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton\u2014along with Congressmen Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack and Bruce Westerman\u2014wrote to President Joe Biden urging him to support Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders\u2019 request for a major disaster declaration for Bradley, Calhoun, Cleveland, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln, Nevada, Ouachita, Searcy and Stone Counties due to severe winter weather from January 30-February 2, 2023.\n\n\u201cArkansans have demonstrated resourcefulness and resilience during this challenging time. But as it stands, we believe the magnitude of this weather event warrants supplemental federal assistance. The above-mentioned counties have seen homes, businesses, and important infrastructure severely damaged, and federal government resources will be critical in our restoration efforts,\u201d members wrote in the letter.\n\nThe letter can be found here and below:\n\nDear Mr. President:\n\nOn behalf of the State of Arkansas, we are writing to support Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders\u2019 request to declare a major disaster, pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief Act, as a result of a winter storm beginning on January 30, 2023, and continued through February 2, 2023.\n\nAs Governor Sanders noted in her request, the severity of this event created disastrous amounts of debris, caused widespread power outages, and resulted in the death of two citizens. Preliminary damage estimates show a major impact to local jurisdictions in Bradley, Calhoun, Cleveland, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln, Nevada, Ouachita, Searcy, and Stone Counties totaling a staggering $8,946,609.68.\n\nGovernor Sanders has activated all emergency resources and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management has coordinated all appropriate state agencies. However, Arkansas has been affected by additional severe weather events before and after this winter storm, including a Gubernatorial Declared disaster. Both the state and many of the local jurisdictions in this request are recovering from these other weather events as well.\n\nArkansans have demonstrated resourcefulness and resilience during this challenging time. But as it stands, we believe the magnitude of this weather event warrants supplemental federal assistance. The above-mentioned counties have seen homes, businesses, and important infrastructure severely damaged, and federal government resources will be critical in our restoration efforts.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T23:30:02Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://westerman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/arkansas-delegation-supports-governors-request-major-disaster"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8256870787590742, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}