Jim Costa: “I am honored to join tonight with my fellow Blue Dog, Congressman Mike Ross, the gentleman from Arkansas, who does an…”

“I am honored to join tonight with my fellow Blue Dog, Congressman Mike Ross, the gentleman from Arkansas, who does an excellent job on behalf of representing his constituents from the great State of Arkansas. Tonight, as a fellow Blue Dog member, I want to echo a number of the comments that Congressman Ross has made, because in that 12-point program that Congressman Ross will talk more about I believe lies solutions to the problems facing our Nation today, solutions that come to the heart of criteria and qualities that all Americans I think share. Those are accountability, competence and what kind of representation they want to see in their House of Representatives. It does not matter what party you are a member of in this great Nation of ours. Accountability and competence are characteristics that Americans value throughout our great land. In coming to the Congress as a new Member and becoming a fellow Blue Dog, we have had an opportunity to share and really spend a great deal of time in examining the challenges that our Nation finds itself in in getting its fiscal house in order. Recently, the Blue Dogs, in consultation with a lot of research, uncovered an unpublicized Department of Treasury document that made a report that I think most Americans, unfortunately, are unaware of.…”