U.S. Representative Mike Ross (AR-04) today touted much-needed legislation he helped pass in the House to create jobs and revive the nation's sagging economy, while eliminating pork and earmarks.
Ross helped pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan of 2009, H.R. 1, a comprehensive package to immediately jumpstart the economy and put the nation on a path toward long-term economic growth. The bill passed the House 244 to 188. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.
"Arkansas will benefit tremendously from this bill," said Ross. "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan includes over three billion dollars for the state of Arkansas to modernize our roads and bridges, repair our schools, lower health care costs, protect our local law enforcement and first responders and help those workers hurt the worst by our crippled economy. Arkansas lost 18,800 jobs over the past year and the state's unemployment is now at 6.2 percent. Sitting idly by and slowing letting our economy collapse is not an option."
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan of 2009 will save or create three to four million jobs over the next few years, rebuild America and make the country more globally competitive and energy independent. It will give 95 percent of working Americans an immediate $1,000 per family tax cut while helping to maintain and create critical jobs in the private and public sectors. The stimulus package also protects vital services like law enforcement, education and health care for families who now find they are struggling to make ends meet.
Most importantly, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan has unprecedented accountability measures, providing strong oversight, an historic degree of public transparency along with no earmarks.
"Earmarks had no place in the legislation," said Ross. "In fact, I led the efforts to eliminate the pork in this bill, removing earmarks for contraceptives and resodding the National Mall, and I fought off attempts to include frivolous requests like a water park in Florida. This bill was focused on sustaining and creating jobs - not funding legislators' pet projects."
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will create jobs and grow the economy through critical investments by:
Transforming our economy with clean, efficient, American energy and innovation and technology that will create more than 1 million jobs;
Lowering health care costs by funding aggressive adoption of health information technology, which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and broadening coverage by helping those who cannot afford health care in these tough times.;
Modernizing roads, bridges, transit and waterways to create 1.5 million American jobs;
Education for the 21st Century, including an increased Pell Grant for 75,082 students here in Arkansas and a higher education tax credit for an additional 44,000 students in our state so that they can stay in college despite these tough times;
Tax cuts of up to $1,000 for 986,000 families here in Arkansas and more than $20 billion for American businesses, large and small, to spur job creation;
Helping workers hurt by the economy, including the 84,400 Arkansans that are out of work, those who have lost their health care, and seniors; and
Saving the jobs of teachers and police officers.
"We are facing the worst economic conditions since World War II," said Ross. "Arkansas's working families, seniors, businesses and farms are often the last to feel the effects of an economic downturn, and unfortunately, this also means that we're among the last to recover. With thousands of Arkansans losing their jobs, and thousands more worried they are next, I supported this package in what I felt was in the best interest of the people of Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District. We needed bold and swift action before an already bad situation becomes dramatically worse."