Gov. Sanders shifts her attention from acts to action
"I think there were north of like, 20 lines being run just into this physical office," she told Axios in a recent interview. She reached behind a couch and pulled out a bundle of cords. "I use my cell phone exclusively."
The cut is part of the promised $300 million in savings from the Arkansas Forward initiative and emblematic of her approach to state government.
The big picture: Arkansas' first female governor and the youngest in the U.S. is more than halfway through her first term. There've been a few clouds — Podiumgate, struggles to fund a new prison, critiques of the education voucher program.
Still, she counts the LEARNS Act of 2023 — including school vouchers — income and grocery tax cuts, a higher education reform package and the Healthy Moms Healthy Babies Act as wins.
State of play: The conversation was before the final passage of the federal "big, beautiful bill" this month, so not all impacts to the state were yet known.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
How did the legislative session go? It had a different feel than the first one, but a similar focus on education, public safety, economic development, tourism.
Passing the legislation is the easy part, implementation is the hard part. That's what we're doing now, not just from this session, but also the session from two years ago.
What's the status of the Arkansas Forward initiative?
We were able to identify at least $300 million in savings or cost avoidance, and those things are going into effect.
We're going to electronic payments for our vendors. We have over 20,000 vendors … it will save about $1.5 million just on printing and postage.
The elimination of unused phone lines was another example. A public dashboard is expected this summer from the Department of Shared Administrative Services so Arkansans can track progress.
What if there are cuts to Medicaid funding in the reconciliation bill?
The goal of a program like that is never to keep people on it. Unfortunately, there are going to be people who always likely need assistance, and we want those people to be covered, but that's not the priority.
We'll continue to look at reforms like the workforce requirement program waiver that we're seeking … that's where the state really can make changes.
What's on your agenda now?
Until everyone is thriving, until we have zero kids in foster care, until we have no one dependent on the government for their food, their health care, their housing and everyone has access to and is taking advantage of a quality education, until every student graduates and is either enrolled, enlisted or employed, we still have work to do.
The same priorities I laid out when I ran for governor are going to continue to be what I focus on, hopefully for the next five and a half years.
Any aspirations to run for president?
This is home for me. My kids are happy.
I have spent time in Washington — I couldn't get out of there fast enough and get home. I want to support and help President Trump be really successful, and I think I can do that best by being a great governor of our state.
What we're watching: Sanders attended the Paris Air Show in June. A spokesperson told us last week she had several productive conversations there and that they expect developments related to the visit to be announced in the coming days.
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