"During my first term in office, I began meeting with officials at the Pentagon and working with the Pine Bluff Alliance and the Pine Bluff Arsenal to lay the necessary groundwork for bringing a vaccine production facility to the Arsenal.  Now, as we take the first steps toward developing this Bioshield, the Pine Bluff Arsenal stands ready to help. 

"Unfortunately, my fellow members of the Arkansas Delegation and I met with officials from the Pentagon earlier this year to discuss the Arsenal’s potential role in Project Bioshield – and we were told that the Administration is opposed to anything other than working through privatized contractors. 

"The President’s designation of vaccine production as a spending priority provides a landmark opportunity for Arkansas, and despite the Administration’s opposition to utilizing the Pine Bluff Arsenal, I’m not giving up - for the sake of the jobs and economic development it will provide to Southeast Arkansas as well as its importance to the security of our nation."

“I greatly appreciate the gesture made by Prime Minister Blair in traveling to speak before Congress.  It sends a message of solidarity to the world in a time when both of our countries are coming under question over a very serious dispute.

“There has been much discussion over whether or not our country and Britain waged an unfounded war based on weapons of mass destruction that we have yet to find.  We should remember that less than half of the suspected weapons sites in Iraq have been checked.  Saddam Hussein may have destroyed evidence of weapons of mass destruction, he may have sent them to other countries, and they may have even been destroyed by the thousands of bombs we dropped in that country.  We may never find the evidence.  What matters now is that a country is free of its evil dictator, and our men and women in uniform are bravely standing their ground to finish what we started: to free Iraq and keep America safe.”
 

“I found Chairman Greenspan’s testimony this morning comforting, yet troubling at the same time.  He indicated that the Federal Reserve is ready to cut interest rates yet again if another economic boost is needed.  While the current historically low interest rates allow working families to afford better housing, students to get the financial help they need, or small business owners to expand their operation – all factors which help to stimulate the economy, continued cuts to interest rates signals a dangerous situation.

“As the chairman noted, ‘a very low inflation rate increases the risk that an adverse shock to the economy would be more difficult to counter effectively.’  Recent interest rate cuts have been enacted as economic stimulus to recession, however our nation now faces the threat of deflation, which could mean very slow economic growth, flat or falling wages, and high unemployment.  While Chairman Greenspan indicated that the threat of deflation is remote, we are running out of room as far as rate cuts.  At 1 percent, the federal funds rate is near the end of its effectiveness as a way to stimulate the economy; we are nearing the end of our rope.”

4-H students from Garland, Hempstead, Jefferson, Hot Spring, and Union Counties paid a visit to their Congressman, Mike Ross (D-Ark.) this week during their trip to Washington, DC.  Pictured with Ross are Steve Washington, Jeremy Rochelle, Elizabeth Pascale, Brandi Grigsby, Krystal Ray, Levi Fitch, Elaine Frigon, Claudette Harris, Audra Usdrowski, Olandero Cohn, and Amber Usdrowski.