Deborah Koff Ross

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In the early morning hours of Friday, June 11, a sudden and devastating flash flood swept through the Albert Pike campground in southwest Arkansas. In just 4 short hours, the Little Missouri River along the Ouachita National Forest rose…

earlier today my Blue Dog colleagues and I stood together to offer our official endorsement of Chairman Spratt's budget because it is clear that we share the common goal of eliminating wasteful government spending, adhering to strict PAYGO…

as he prepares for retirement at the end of this year, it is impossible to think about Razorback athletics and imagine what it would be like without Coach Frank Broyles. His achievements on the field are numerous and distinctive. However…

The reason all of this is so important is because of this: Today, the U.S. national debt, $9,169,206,830,867, you divide that by every man, woman and child in America, and your share, Madam Speaker, is $30,205. Since President Bush took…

This year we have paid $239 billion in interest on the national debt. That is close to $1 billion a day, without a calculator. But with a calculator, and to put it in perspective, the same amount we would pay for any of the following…

I thank my colleague and former policy cochair for the Blue Dogs from Tennessee, Mr. Cooper, for his insight on not only Iraq war spending but these other fiscal responsibilities, trying to restore fiscal responsibility to our government…

The 2007 Iraqi war funding, the total cost, $135.2 billion; the cost per month, $11.3 billion; the cost per day, $370 million. That's about $16 million an hour. I helped dedicate and break ground on interstate I-530, which someday will…

And we're a group of 47 fiscally conservative Democrats that are simply trying to restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's Government as we try to offer up commonsense, practical ways to put an end to this reckless…

That is a national security issue, in my opinion, Mr. Cooper. What if those countries decide to call those loans? What does that mean? The "dream team," Mr. Rubin and the others told us today what it meant, and I think you asked the…

And he did that. There were several contributing factors that allowed him to be able to lead us in that direction, one of which was having what's called PAYGO rules on the floor of this very House, something the Republican leadership threw…

It was a fascinating discussion, and you raise a good point, and that is that it wasn't too long ago that Members of Congress were coming to this floor to debate how to spend a budget surplus, how to invest a budget surplus. You know, it…

We agree that it is critical for members of the U.S. Armed Forces, including members of the reserve components, to have adequate rest and recuperation periods between deployments. We agree that a safe and responsible redeployment of U.S…

There are eight points that we make in this bipartisan compact on Iraq debate on how we move forward. The second one, we agree that efforts to eliminate funding for U.S. forces engaged in combat and in harm's way in Iraq would put at risk…

Again, these views on Iraq are not necessarily those of the Blue Dog Coalition. We require a two-thirds vote for an endorsed position. These are our views, those of us that believe we need a new direction and how we think we can get there…

I thank Mr. Berry for offering this amendment. It is a bipartisan amendment. It is what I would call a commonsense amendment. I don't have to tell you, Mr. Chairman, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, they need help in trying to…

You mentioned something that really piqued my interest, and that is making sure that we are providing our soldiers with the best technology in armored vests. And I want to thank you for raising that this evening. I've got a constituent in…

this evening, as on most Tuesday evenings when Congress is in session, I rise on behalf of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a group of 47 conservative to moderate Democrats that simply want to come here, put…

I thank the President for going to Iraq. He was there, I think it was his third trip, he was there for a few hours. I spent a day in Iraq. You have been several times. I think it is important that we go and we let our soldiers know we…

I mean, we talk a good game when it comes to our veterans, but then we saw the truth about what was really going on at Walter Reed. And tomorrow there will be a hearing with the Armed Services Committee that is a follow-up to a series that…

I rise this evening, as I do most Tuesday evenings, on behalf of the 43-member strong, fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. Some people may say, what's the Blue Dog Coalition and what's it all about? Well, Mr. Speaker…

Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions or concerns, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. That is [email protected]. I am talking about House Resolution 97, providing for Operation Iraqi Freedom Cost Accountability…

It does four things. It calls for transparency on how Iraq war funds are spent. It calls for the creation of a Truman-like commission to investigate the awarding of contracts. It provides a need to fund the Iraq war through the normal…

These are examples of why it is important that we get our Nation's fiscal house in order. As long as we've got record debt after record debt and record deficit after record deficit that the Republicans have given us, and we can't turn this…

The Blue Dog Coalition was founded back in 1994 shortly after the Republicans took control of Congress by a group of conservative Democrats, Democrats that used to be Yellow Dog Democrats. The saying in the South is that a Democrat is so…