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NORM COLEMAN:  So out of all this, Senator Boozman is known as a man who’s very calm. So my first two questions are kind of personal. One, how do you maintain calmness in the midst of all this craziness that’s going on at the Capitol? And the second is, what lessons have you learned being as an offensive linesman, the Razorbacks, and how does that prepare you for service in the United States Senate?

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  Well, those are good questions. First of all, let me thank you all for the honor that you’re bestowing upon me, especially being here with Susan Collins. Susan Collins does a tremendous job in the Senate. She’s one of the smartest senators that we’ve got. Plus, she’s got so much common sense. I learned a long time ago you don’t mess with her unless you really know your stuff, and that’s an understatement.

Greg Meeks and I had the opportunity to serve together in the House, as he mentioned, and he was a dear friend. The Ugandans or somebody gave him a line that I always thought was my line, and I haven’t forgiven him for that. But it’s interesting, when we were in the House, it really was the heyday of lots of stuff going on. I had a similar experience as him with getting on Foreign Affairs, and Henry Hyde helped me get on. And I said, “Henry, you know, tell me about this.” I’d gotten to know him, “And is it worth doing?” He said, “John, it’s all about war and peace. You know, it’s important.”

But we started the Millennium Challenge, the Malaria Caucus. Don Payne was a big part of that. He and I started it together. He became a dear friend. I love this stuff so much in the sense that you bring all these strange bedfellows together. You know, I’m from Arkansas. He’s from New Jersey or was from New Jersey. He’s an African American. I’m not. He’s a liberal Democrat. I’m a conservative Republican. The list goes on and on. But we had that in common, and we got a lot of stuff done. And that’s really what you all are all about.

o I appreciate the award. On the other hand, I realize the people that have really done the work through the years—and I haven’t been around here forever, but I’ve been around here for a while now—you all are the movers and the shakers. A lot of people talk a good game about these things. One of the problems that we’ve got worldwide is nobody really cares enough to actually knuckle down and get these things done.

So Norm was also very, very kind. I didn’t serve with him in the Senate, but I just had some dealings with him when I was in the House. And he was always so kind and nice, and it was hard on me, because Greg can tell you that the only thing that House Members agree on is their hatred of the Senate.

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  Or they all want to be one.

And then Ambassador Greenfield is just a legend. And thank you so much for all you do.

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  As far as being calm and things, it’s interesting. Susan and I were at a dinner last night, and Mitt Romney was there, and he was talking about this. And he was talking about there being different phases in life and the importance of really deciding who you are, what you want to be, in the sense of what you want to spend your time focused on. And he talked about his family and faith and then different things, different things at different times during his life, again, that he wanted to focus on. And so I think that’s really the key is just kind of putting your nose—he mentioned I played football at Arkansas. The football coach there was Joe Gibbs, who went on to do great things.

I’m credited with being one of two or three guys that frustrated him so much that he left college football to go to the pros.

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  But as a lineman, there you’re pushing, you’re working hard. You’re just moving things down the field. And I think this is true in what we do is you push hard, you move things down the field in increments, and you work as a team. And then, again, stay focused on what you’re trying to accomplish.

And it’s so hard to do these days, Norm, especially with the devices, all the social media and stuff, but it’s difficult for all of us. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing.

NORM COLEMAN:  And you’ve just got to get ten yards or first down, so three yards in one play, five yards in another. You can move it forward.

So the Senate is the upper chamber. The House is the lower chamber. But even among senators, there are kind of levels. So there are the appropriators, Chairman Collins, the Chairman of the Appropriations. You’re an appropriator. Foreign assistance is kind of facing challenges. So what do you think is going—even though it’s that 1 percent that Chairman Collins spoke about, what do you see the future of foreign assistance in the next budget?

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  Well, to be honest, it’s always faced challenges. We go through this every year, and sometimes it’s a little bit worse than others. Right now we’re close to $36 trillion in debt. We’re running over a trillion and a half deficits every year. So you do have to watch what you’re doing.

So I think it, along with everything else, just like your businesses during the pandemic, you get through inflation. The average American right now is watching what they’re doing because they just don’t have a lot of disposable income. That doesn’t mean that you do less, but I do think that you have to be more careful. You have to build consensus. And again, the people that do that are you all in the sense of pushing forward, using your influence, using your power, and we’re all called to do different things to get this accomplished.

I get a lot of mail. I know Susan gets a lot of mail and Greg. Nobody’s writing us saying—not nobody, but very few people are writing us, telling us we need to increase foreign aid. We’ve got a lot of people that are going just the other—again, in this inflationary time when it is tough on the average person that’s out there working hard, just the opposite. So education is really important, and again, that’s a way that you all can help us so very much.

NORM COLEMAN:  It’s fair to say that the President’s budget is a proposal. Would it be a fair statement?

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  No, the President’s budget—

NORM COLEMAN:  President appropriator. You have something to say.

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  Well, the President budget, he gets to send the budget over. I think—I really can’t remember when a President has gotten any votes for his budget.

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  I think a few years ago Senator Carper voted for President Obama’s budget, and somebody asked him why he did it, and he said he thought he needed some support.

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  So the President gets to decide what his priorities are. Generally, what he’ll do is cut the things that aren’t real popular and then expect us to put them back in. And that’s when people like Susan and Lindsey Graham and others, myself, work really hard to make sure that the things that need to be in there are in there.

NORM COLEMAN:  So I mentioned that you’ll be chairman of the Ag Committee. It’s one of your passions. Africa has been a passion. Foreign assistance, you understand the importance of it. Part of it, I may ask, I believe your faith plays a part in that. I guess my question is, how do they fit together? How, in your mind, do you kind of come to the issue of why is this important? Beyond just being the position of chairman, what is it in John Boozman that finds those two things, agriculture—why are they important to you?

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  Well, I think as I talked about with Senator Romney, alluding to the fact that you have to pick out certain things that you’re working on and that’ll change through the years, but I got on the Foreign Affairs Committee. I was the Ranking Member on Africa, and Don was the chairman. I just got really interested and then, again, got interested in foreign affairs and drifted into that. The more you know, the more excited you get, and the better you understand the need.

And then, too, how all of these things are connected, it’s what food instability does in a place like Africa or the Middle East. The Arab Spring was all about hungry people. These are big, vital things that affect all of us. And so with agriculture, so much of instability is brought about. If you’re hungry, you’re going to follow al-Qaeda, you’re going to follow whoever is there to give you a meal and take care of your family. So America has stepped up and done that to a large extent. We can be very, very proud of that, but it does go all together.

NORM COLEMAN:  So it would be fair to say more than just a slogan, talk about food security being national security?  Is that the message?

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  No, exactly. And I gave a presentation about the Farm Bill, how important it was to our caucus a few months ago, and Marco Rubio was sitting by me. He’s the Chair of our Intelligence Committee. I asked if there was any questions, and it was a miracle there weren’t. Senators like to talk a lot and ask questions constantly. So nobody had any questions. And so Marco punched me and said that, you know, “John, tell them food security is national security.” And, you know, you hear these things over and over, and they sound pretty trite, but this is a basic truth, that we have basic truths in life, and that is a basic truth.

NORM COLEMAN:  So the fire hasn’t gone out in this fireside chat, but time is running down. Just one final question, I guess your final thought. Without being partisan, we’re in a Republican administration, Republican Congress, Republican House. Why is it important that the Republican Party be a party of peace through strength, which includes as elements of that diplomacy and development?

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  Well, I think it’s so important, and really, as I just alluded to, you know, you can have a powerful military. We need to have—we’re powerful because we do have a big military. We’re powerful because we’re the economic force that we are and can do a lot of good there. But if you have a world that’s unstable because of lack of food—as I said, the Arab Spring, those of you that do such a good job in the public service area of the State Department can lecture us for hours about this, the instability that it causes. It’s money well spent. And so it is important.

It’s important to Republicans, and as I said earlier, I love this in the sense that you can find so many strange bedfellows, that despite party affiliation or whatever, we’re all in it together. And the other thing too is that we really can make a big difference, and, you know, we’re talking about life and death in many cases. So it’s a big deal.

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  And you guys, as I said, I appreciate the honor, and I think I can speak for the rest of the honorees. You know, we appreciate it. But really, you all are the ones that have worked so very hard through the years.

NORM COLEMAN:  Let’s thank the chairman for his leadership, all he’s done for the USGLC, all he’s done for people throughout the world. Mr. Chairman, thank you, and God bless.

SEN. JOHN N. BOOZMAN:  Thank you.