Deborah Koff Ross: “this evening, on behalf of the 44 member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog coalition, I rise to spend an…”

“this evening, on behalf of the 44 member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog coalition, I rise to spend an hour this evening talking with you and Members of this body about the Blue Dog Coalition's desire to restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national government. Over the next hour, we plan as members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog coalition to talk on this floor about the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform. We plan to discuss our accountability measures, because we believe it is time to restore accountability, fiscal discipline, and common sense to our national government. Before I begin the formal presentation this evening, and will be joined by other members of the Blue Dog Coalition, I would like to take a moment to recognize Sergeant Marcus Wilson. Sergeant Wilson grew up in Dermott, Arkansas, in southeast Arkansas, in our congressional district back home. This afternoon I had the honor to go to Walter Reed Army Hospital where I was able to sit down and visit with Sergeant Wilson and his wife and his son and thank him for his service to our country. He is there because of injuries suffered in Iraq. Before that he served in Afghanistan.”