Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Ross pledges to help Clark County attract industry

Congressman Mike Ross (D-AR, 4) pledged to do what he could to help Clark County recover from the loss of the Goodrich plant.

Ross said he has seen how the Workforce Investment Act can help people, adding it should be used to help get the economy moving.

He sympathized with Clark County's plight, saying the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, have resulted in millions of people losing their jobs. While the attacks didn't actually cause the loss of jobs, he continued, they did speed up the situation as the economy was heading downhill at the time.

"I know what it's like to have to meet payroll," Ross said, talking about owning a small business with 12 employees.

"We need economic stimulus, and we need balance in helping the unemployed." Ross suggested the federal government extend unemployment benefits so people can keep their health insurance longer. He added, accelerating depreciation for businesses is a must.

Turning the topic to the Enron fiasco, Ross said government shouldn't be giving tax cuts retroactive 15 years to bankrupt companies.

Ross also talked about his freshman year in the House of Representatives, and having the privilege of giving the Democrats rebuttal to Saturday's presidential radio address.

In the aftermath of the ice storm, considered the worst disaster in Arkansas history, Ross helped get the Fourth Congressional District $180 million in federal money for the cleanup effort. "I was proud to facilitate getting the money for 100 percent of the cost of cleanup," he said.

Ross, one of 32 members of the Blue Dog Coalition, told how this group opposed budget proposals from both parties, and proposed its own, which was narrowly defeated.

He said with a national debt of $57 trillion, the United States is paying $1 billion a day just on the interest. When it was learned there may be budget surpluses, Ross and the Blue Dog Coalition suggested 50 percent of the money be used toward paying down the national debt, 25 percent be used as a tax cut and the rest go to help senior citizens and the Medicaid program.

He commended the citizens of Arkadelphia on the city's new high school, saying industrial prospects look at an area's educational facilities when making decisions about where to locate.

Turning to the topic of Social Security, Ross said, when the program was created there were 30 people paying in for each person receiving benefits. But, by 2018, more will be getting benefits than paying in and by 2038 the program will be broke.

"Now is the time to start fixing the problem," he said. "I'm trying here to focus awareness on the problem, I don't have all the answers."

The first bill Ross filed as a congressman was for the government to keep its hands out of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

"I'm proud of my first year in office," he said. "I helped secure $120 million for the district. It was more than any other freshman congressman and more than some more experienced representatives."

Of this, he said, $7 million will be used to provide the final funding for the Interstate-49 project, which will see the construction of an interstate highway to the Louisiana boarder.

Eventually, he said, I-49 will connect the other major interstates in Arkansas, and this will help the entire state's economic development effort.

Ross and his family spent part of the Christmas break in Washington, D.C., moving to a less expensive apartment.

He said it isn't much of an apartment, but it meets his needs as little as he's in Washington. When Congress isn't voting, Ross tours his district talking with the constituents, then returns and tries to help.

Talking about the Sept. 11 attacks, Ross said he never dreamed he'd be able to see smoke from the Pentagon being attacked from his office window, or the twin towers of the World Trade Center would be reduced to rubble.

He told how members of Congress from both parties came together, sang on the Capitol steps and gave the president authority to declare war while making sure the funds to fight it were in place.

Ross toured "ground zero" in New York and saw firefighters working 16-hour days three weeks after the attack trying to clear the rubble. The World Trade Center, he said, was driven seven stories into the ground, with the temperatures still 1,000 degrees three weeks later.

"It's something I'll never forget," he said. "I now see the nation recognizing firemen and policemen as its real heroes. People have more respect for veterans, and our men and women who are fighting in Afghanistan. People are more patriotic than ever before in my lifetime."

In his first year in office, Ross drove 60,000 miles traversing the district, and was able to help 1,088 people cut through government red tape. He also made 41 round trips to Washington.

"We work for you," he said. "If we can help, give us a call."

Ross said regular mail still isn't being delivered at the Capitol after the anthrax problems. In trying to find a way to "zap" the mail and kill the virus, he said, more than 2,000 pounds of letters were accidentally destroyed.

He suggested anyone wanting to get in touch with him do so by fax, phone or email. Letters, he said, should be sent to the Prescott office at 221 West Main Street, 71857.

State Sen. Percy Malone moderated the meeting at the 2025 Commission offices, and told how Ross called offering to help mere hours after the announcement was made of Goodrich's decision to close the Gum Springs plant.

Malone said Ross offered to help find an industry to help replace Goodrich.