"On Tuesday, Congressman Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, who serves as ranking member of the House Transportation Committee, spent a day in Arkansas to learn of our transportation needs.  At my invitation, he traveled our roadways, toured our construction projects, and met with community leaders who enthusiastically shared their visions for transportation projects in Arkansas.

"After this transportation summit, Mr. Oberstar told me he now understands what I’ve been talking about for all these months.  He said he knows these projects will not only provide jobs and economic opportunities for Arkansas, they will fit into the big transportation picture as well, easing the flow of traffic and trade nationwide.

"I’d like to thank all the local chambers of commerce, transportation officials, and interested citizens who helped to welcome Congressman Oberstar to our State.  I’d also like to thank fellow Congressmen John Boozman of Arkansas and Max Sandlin of Texas, who helped lend their support, showing Mr. Oberstar that this is a bipartisan effort for the good of Arkansas.

"I feel confident that in the upcoming years, when Congress decides which projects will receive federal funding, we’ll find our projects well provided for."

Ross said threats of privatizing Social Security, as well as politicians raiding the fund to support unrelated projects, have jeopardized the program’s future. 

“We run the risk of losing Social Security if we don’t draft measures to protect it,” Ross said. “We need to tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off the Social Security Trust Fund. Let’s not put our seniors at risk by retiring this program - our seniors depend on it too much. We need to stand up in support of our nation’s safety net and make sure our seniors know that we are there for them as they have been there for us.” 

Ross said the first bill he sponsored as a member of Congress was the Social Security and Medicare Off-Budget Lockbox Act of 2001, which was designed to protect the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds. 

“I will utilize every tool I have to make Social Security a top priority for current and future generations,” Ross said. “I absolutely oppose any effort to privatize Social Security and put our senior’s retirement in the unstable stock market. I give you my word that I will continue to fight day in and day out in your Congress to make sure that your Social Security remains safe and strong.”

(Prescott, AR) U.S. Representative Mike Ross (AR-4) Tuesday announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $150,000 each to Southern Financial Partners and Southern Arkansas Community Development, both of Arkadelphia.

“Programs like these are very deserving of these funds,” Ross said. 

Ross said Southern Financial Partners will receive a Rural Housing and Economic Development grant to assist it in hiring staff, conducting market and feasibility analyses and strategic planning for economic and housing related activities. 

Southern Arkansas Community Development will receive the same grant to help the organization enhance its existing Self-Help Housing Program by assisting them in helping an additional 50 families achieve home ownership, in addition to providing self-help housing construction training, the construction of six homes and the hiring of two bilingual staff
members, Ross said. 

 “These grants will help provide much needed resources to these organizations and will greatly increase the productivity of each,” Ross said. “Southern Arkansas Community Development will now be able to reach more families as it works to improve its efforts to help families own their homes, and Southern Financial Partners will have a better opportunity to bolster the economy of Clark County.”

 “Grants like these are integral part of the further development of Southeast Arkansas,” Ross said. “It’s vastly important that we help people in the Fourth District find the decent, affordable housing they deserve.” 

The authority will receive a total of $133,748 under the Fiscal Year 2002 Fair Share Allocation of Incremental Housing Choice Vouchers Program, Ross said.