Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Ross reflects on recent session, war in Iraq

Energy, the war in Iraq and minimum wage are

among the issues high on the priority list of U.S.

Rep. Mike Ross this year.

Ross says that Congress currently has a low

approval rating, but says he believes the House of

Representatives have made great strides this session.

There a lot of things in the House that havent

passed the Senate, Ross said during a recent

interview.

With Congress gearing up for the final few

weeks of session during 2007, Ross said he can

look back on some major accomplishments. Some

of those he attributes to actions taken by the current

Democratic majority rule in the House of

Representatives.

Weve been waiting for 12 years for a chance

to rule, he said.

One of the actions of that majority was to reinstate

House rules that were in place when Bill

Clinton was president, when he introduced the

first balanced budget in years, Ross said. There is

also a pledge to balance the budget by 2012 with

additional tax relief for middle-income families,

according to Ross.

Ross termed this, Cleaning up the mess in

Washington. He said the House has passed the

toughest ethics and lobbying reform in a generation

Ross said the reforms, including open disclosure

requirements, were enacted during the

first 100 hours of the session and that they are significant steps toward cleaning up the culture of

corruption that plagued Washington in past

years.

Ross, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition,

said another step taken was to pass legislation

eliminating the pension of legislators who break

the law.

I think its important that those who make our

laws abide by them, Ross said.

He cited the public trust and said lawmakers

should be held to a high standard that includes

severe punishment for breaking laws.

Other issues that have come to the forefront

this session include energy, health care and money

for veterans. Under this sessions leaders, the federal

minimum wage is being increased and there is

a farm bill pending in the Senate.

Ross said the legislators of this session have

been in Washington often.

He said he was presiding over the House when

that body broke the record for the most votes cast

during a single session since votes have been

tracked electronically.

Ross said that has created its own problems

because the job of being a representative is actually

two jobs - one casting votes and working in

Washington, D.C., and the other spending time

with the people of the district so that he is educated

on their concerns.

He said that having time to do both is vital and

that he hopes in the coming year hell have at least

a little more time to spend in his home district.