|
I believe the best way to represent Arkansas’s Fourth Congressional
District in our nation’s capital is to get out among the people, hear their
concerns and ideas, and bring them back to Washington, D.C. to the United
States House of Representatives. This week, I completed a tour of
the 29 counties that encompass Arkansas’s Fourth Congressional District.
Throughout the month of August, I hosted community office hours, held
meetings with farm families, spoke at civic clubs, toured hospitals and
universities, attended summer festivals, welcomed home troops, celebrated
the 70th birthday of Social Security, and met with local community leaders.
All across the Fourth District, the same concerns resonated among residents.
Arkansans are concerned about the unprecedented gas prices, protecting
Social Security, and drought relief for farm families.
I am committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
to lower the price of gasoline. I am co-sponsoring H.R. 299, which
requires the President to suspend acquisitions to the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve (SPR). This legislation also instructs the President
to direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Attorney General to
exercise vigorous oversight over the oil markets to protect the American
people from price gouging and unfair practices at the gas pump. I
have also co-sponsored H.R. 1398, legislation that mandates we have ten
percent ethanol in all gas by the year 2010 and five percent biodiesel
in all diesel by the year 2010. This legislation will allow the U.S.
to become less dependent on foreign oil and provide a new market for our
farm families.
Arkansans of all ages expressed concern about the President’s plan to
privatize Social Security. I will continue my efforts to protect
Social Security and ensure the Social Security safety net created by President
Roosevelt in 1935 will continue to pay beneficiaries, in full, the security
they have worked a lifetime to receive.
Farm families are dealing with exorbitant diesel prices, abnormally
low rainfall levels, and are facing the potential for widespread crop failure.
I am working to secure federal natural disaster aid to our farmers and
look forward to working with our Congressional Delegation to help alleviate
the burden on Arkansas’s farmers. As we begin to draft a new farm
bill to be enacted in 2007, establishing disaster programs within the bill
will be one of my top priorities.
As the summer draws to a close this Labor Day weekend, I encourage you
to keep in your thoughts and prayers Hurricane Katrina victims in Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama. I hope that you will visit www.redcross.org
for information as to how you can assist ongoing relief efforts for our
southern neighbors.
Each year, I truly look forward to August as a time that I can visit
with constituents throughout Arkansas, learning how I can best serve our
state’s residents in our nation’s capital. As your Representative
in the United States Congress, rest assured I will take your concerns to
Washington, D.C. when the nation resumes business after the Labor Day holiday.
I will have the benefit of meetings and visits with you behind each and
every decision I make. I look forward to the important work that
remains and will continue the fight for Arkansas’s working families. |
|