As your United States Congressman, I pledged to maintain and promote the conservative, small town values that so many of us in south Arkansas were raised on and still believe in.  In doing so, I feel strongly that one of my most important responsibilities is to be accessible and out among my constituents, listening to your views and concerns, so that I can best represent you when I am in Washington.   That is why during the August work period, I will be spending each day speaking with individuals; attending meetings with civic, agricultural, and economic organizations; and visiting businesses and industrial facilities across south Arkansas.

One of the highlights of the month long district work period will be a seven-stop family pharmacy tour where I will be visiting local pharmacies to discuss an issue that I believe is important to all of us, especially our seniors—the need to truly modernize Medicare to include a voluntary but guaranteed prescription drug benefit for our seniors.  I am very concerned with the prescription drug discount card plan that the President has proposed as an alternative, and I want you to know that I believe the plan is a false promise to our seniors.  What our seniors need is simple—a plan that truly modernizes Medicare to include medicine just like going to the doctor and going to the hospital.

I look forward to coming to many of your hometowns this month to talk about this and other issues, and I hope you will not hesitate to contact me at 1-800-223-2220 or by email at mike.ross@mail.house.gov if I can ever be of service to you.  Please be sure to visit our website at www.house.gov/ross where you can sign up to receive our weekly electronic newsletter that will keep you up to date on what’s going on in Washington.