"Overall this bill provides $29.4 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal year 2004.  That’s only 1.8 percent above the overall funding level provided to the Department in its first year of operation, when many security measures and programs had yet to be implemented.  The Central Budget Office forecasts that prices will increase during the current fiscal year by 2.3 percent.  As a result the bill actually provides funding that in real dollar terms is about $150 million below current levels. 

"Our first responders do an excellent job with the resources they have – they protect lives and property every day, and I am grateful for all they do.  But the simple fact is, our police and fire departments, our emergency response personnel, and our public health agencies are under funded. 

"I recently conducted a preparedness survey among our district’s first responders where they told me just how little they have to work with.  What they told me was alarming, and it is unacceptable.  How can we expect them to take on more responsibility with meager funding for the training, equipment, and adequate personnel necessary to keep us safe in this post-9/11 era?

"As Members of Congress, our first responsibility is set forth in the Preamble to the Constitution – to provide for the common defense.  I believe that means pursuing homeland security within our own country as aggressively as we are pursuing terrorists in other countries."

Late Tuesday, the U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City said the FTC overstepped its authority when it allowed consumers to make their home and mobile phone numbers off-limits to telemarketers. Congress acted swiftly to pass legislation that expresses opposition to the court ruling, and that will allow the FTC to maintain the do-not-call list.  The bill, H.R. 3161, was passed by a wide majority, 412-8.

“As someone whose family dinners have been interrupted numerous times by telemarketers, I was glad to vote for this bill on behalf of all families,” Ross said.  “Contrary to the court’s decision, I believe that when we voted back in February to create this ‘do not call’ registry, Congress gave the FTC full authority to enforce it.  The bill we passed today brings clarity to the issue and specifically permits the FTC to operate the registry.  These calls from telemarketers are unwanted and intrusive, and I know households across our country look forward to being rid of this nuisance.”

The FTC has already collected 50 million phone numbers from consumers requesting their numbers be placed on the do-not-call list. Under the rule the court blocked Tuesday, Telemarketers would have faced fines of up to $11,000 per call if they phoned any of those phone numbers.

On October 1, most telemarketers must stop calling phone numbers registered before August 31.  For those who register after September 1, you will have a three-month waiting period before telemarketers will stop calling.  For more information, or to sign up for the “do not call” registry, visit Ross’s website, www.house.gov/ross. 

Ross, who serves as ranking member of the Livestock and Horticulture Subcommittee, spent the weekend meeting with agriculture and trade officials from around the globe, and says despite the breakdown in reaching a trade agreement, he is optimistic about future trade possibilities.

“We’ve got to pass an agreement that will work for our nation, and for our farm families in Arkansas as well,” Ross said.  “That’s what I was fighting for.  The World Trade Organization is made up of 148 member countries that differ greatly in their trade philosophies; it’s hard to get all of them to agree on one proposal.  The first trade agreement took eight years to complete, and the second agreement is only in its fourth year.  Hopefully we can work out our differences and come up with a plan that will be beneficial to all – no agreement is better than a bad agreement. 

“However, our farm families can’t wait that long.  I think we should pursue a dual course; we should continue to work with the WTO to get our farm families greater market access, and we should form bilateral agreements in the meantime that work for our farm families, opening new markets one country or region at a time.  I have come away from this experience with a wealth of knowledge about international trade as it relates to the agriculture industry, and I will continue working for fair trade for our farm families.”

Photo:  Ross visits with WTO Agriculture Committee Chairman Stuart Harbinson in Mexico.