I want to work with President Bush and the Republicans in Congress to bring real results back home to the Fourth Congressional District.  In fact, I supported two of the President three tax cuts—repealing the estate tax and eliminating the marriage tax penalty.  

However, I am concerned that the Administration has not done enough to address other important issues that really matter to the people of south Arkansas in their everyday lives—things like truly modernizing Medicare to include a voluntary but guaranteed prescription drug benefit for our seniors, investing in our children and our schools, strengthening our national defense, providing much needed assistance to our farm families, and paying down our $5.7 trillion dollar national debt, which costs us as taxpayers nearly $1 billion a day in interest alone.  

The first bill I filed as a member of Congress was one that would tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.  I am particularly troubled that the Administration’s budget uses the Social Security and Medicare trust funds to pay for its tax cut proposals.  This is especially bad given the fact that some 77 million baby boomers will begin drawing Social Security and Medicare benefits in nine short years.  Medicare and Social Security at that time will no longer be a pay as you go system.  We’ve got to protect those surpluses.  

I think it’s time for the partisan bickering in Washington to stop.  I call on President Bush and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to work together to truly address these priorities that affect the every day lives of the people of south Arkansas and all Americans.

“We should hold our students, teachers, and parents accountable, but we should also give our students the resources they need to get a good education,” Ross said.  “We need to provide smaller class sizes and better pay for our teachers; we need to repair our crumbling schools; and we need to make sure that every school and every classroom is wired for the internet.”

During the roundtable breakfast, Ross and his colleagues answered questions about how Congress is addressing issues of concern to youth and listened to suggestions from the students on how to solve some of those issues.  The topics raised included student reading proficiency, standardized testing, youth violence, teen pregnancy, and the need for after-school programs for at-risk youth.  
 

Ross said that he deals with education and youth issues every day and that as former chair of the Children and Youth Committee in the Arkansas State Senate, he feels it is very important to listen directly to the concerns of young people.  “I think it’s very important as members of Congress for us to be out in the community talking to you and listening to your concerns,” Ross told the group.  “That helps us to best represent you, which is what we were sent here to do.”

Save the Children is an international nonprofit child assistance organization founded in 1932 to make lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need.  The U.S. Program supports local community organizations to offer after-school programs to low-income youth and families throughout the nation.  These after-school programs are the foundation of the Save the Children’s Web of Support Initiative, a commitment to providing caring adults, safe places and constructive activities to young people in their out-of-school time.  These programs are enabling 240 communities in 18 states to provide 125,000 children with constructive things to do in safe places with an adult who is committed to their future.  

Each of the students that participated in the Youth Summit in Washington, D.C., is supported by Save the Children programs.  Save the Children has programs in south Arkansas in Ashley County, concentrating on the rural town of Montrose, and Chicot County, concentrating on the community of Dermott.  Among the attendees at the summit was a high school student from Montrose. 

Before closing the program, Ross encouraged the youth to give back to their communities through public service.  

“Whether it’s picking up trash on the side of road, becoming a teacher, serving on the local school board, or running for the United States Congress, I still believe that a person can enter into public service for the right reasons and really make a difference in people’s lives,” he said.

Please feel free to call Courtney Sarratt in my Washington, DC office for more information about constituent services or visit our website at www.house.gov/ross.  Please allow my office a four to six weeks notice so we can best accommodate your needs. I look forward to seeing you soon.