"In fact, in our own family, our automobile insurance allows us to choose which body shop to take our mini van should we ever have a wreck.  And yet our HMO health insurance plan tells us who our doctor is going to be and something as personal as who will be holding the knife if and when we ever need surgery.  

"This Patients’ Bill of Rights guarantees basic protections to all patients, regardless of where they live or how they purchase their health insurance.  The Ganske-Dingell bill gives every American the right to choose their own doctor; it guarantees that treatment decisions are based on medical, not financial, concerns; and it covers all insured Americans without excluding the millions left out of other proposals like firefighters, teachers, and church employees. 

"I am pleased that the Senate has begun to take into consideration a companion version of this legislation, and I hope that they will pass it.  I urge my colleagues in the House to follow suit.  While some members of the House Republican majority are rushing to draft competing legislation to the bipartisan Ganske-Dingell bill that would not provide adequate patient protections to all citizens, I am optimistic that my colleagues will listen to the American people and pass a real Patients’ Bill of Rights that will cover all citizens.   The people of south Arkansas and across America deserve it."

“The bill approved by the committee will provide $4.6 billion for supplemental market loss assistance payments to individuals receiving an Agricultural Market Transition Act (AMTA) payment as well as $900 million to aid oilseed, peanut, wool and mohair, and cottonseed producers and to address other agricultural needs.     

“With crop prices for the 2001 crop year worsening, the committee approval is an important first step in moving this legislation through the Congress.  I will continue to work as a member of the Agriculture committee and with other members of Congress to see that the farmers and producers in south Arkansas have the help they need to make ends meet this year and for years to come.”
 

“Our nation’s democracy was founded on the idea of one person, one vote,” Ross said.  “However, possessing the right to vote is not enough.  Every vote must be counted and access guaranteed.”  

At a press conference at the United States Capitol, the members announced legislation, the Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act of 2001 (H.R. 1170), to address the issue of voting irregularities that occurred in last year’s elections.  Congressman Ross is a cosponsor of this bill. 

H.R. 1170 will require states to adopt uniform and non-discriminatory statewide standards for election machinery and would allow provisional voting to prevent the preclusion of voters who can later show they were properly registered and improperly denied the right to vote in federal elections.  The legislation also establishes a Commission on Voting Rights and Procedures to study election reform issues for Federal, State, and local elections, including alternative voting methods, ballot designs, ballot uniformity, and absentee voting, in order to develop specific recommendations of best practices in voting and election administration.  

“This bill will be an important step in helping to ensure that elections in the future take place in the fairest and most efficient manner and that all registered voters are able to cast their votes and have them be counted,” said Ross.