Local TEA Party activists today praised Rep. Mike Ross, D-AR., leader of the U.S. House of Representatives’ “Blue Dog Coalition” of fiscally moderate and conservative Democrats who Thursday publicly urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi to abandon her attempt to ram a socialized medicine and healthcare rationing scheme through Congress by the end of July.
John Wilson, El Dorado, president of the local Conservative Action Project TEA Party organization, echoed Ross’s sentiments expressed Thursday when Ross told the Associated Press regarding healthcare reform: “We need to slow down and do it right.”
“We commend Congressman Ross for leading the Blue Dog Democrats’ in standing up to Nancy Pelosi and calling for a return to common sense and fiscal responsibility in Congress,” Wilson said. “It’s outrageous that President Obama and Nancy Pelosi are trying to ram these huge trillion-dollar tax and spending increases through so fast that members of Congress don’t get to even read the bills before being forced to vote on them, much less giving taxpayers time to read them and have our say.”
“We call on Congressman Ross to stand firm, keep putting the people of Arkansas first, and not be bullied by Obama and Pelosi into voting for legislation that spends trillions of dollars to take away our freedom and ration healthcare by giving government bureaucrats control over who gets treatment,” Wilson said.
The Associated Press reported that Pelosi said Thursday: “I promised the president that we would have legislation out of the House before we went on an August break. That is still my goal.”
However, the Associated Press reported later Thursday: “‘We need to slow down and do it right,’ Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., said outside a meeting of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 52 moderate to conservative Democrats. …Ross said the group was drafting a letter to the Democrat leadership asking for additional time. Although he did not specify how much time, he said he believes no vote should take place until the fall — well after a midsummer informal deadline set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”
http://www.kansas.com/514/story/885959.html
Rep. Ross is listed as leader of the Blue Dog Coalition on its Capitol Hill website:
http://www.house.gov/melancon/BlueDogs/Member%20Page.html
