COMMENTARY: Words From Ross Now A Weapon?

By DAVID SANDERS | davidjsanders@aol.com

Posted: November 12, 2009 at 4:15 a.m.

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LITTLE ROCK — It wasn’t enough that U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., voted against the sweeping health-care legislation, which narrowly passed the House of Representatives on a 220 to 215 vote late Saturday night.

Minutes after the vote, the Fourth District representative issued a tersely worded statement, which detailed his reasons for opposing the bill. That statement is now causing many Arkansans to ask why he was the only Arkansas Democrat courageous enough to buck Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama on their signature piece of legislation - both Reps. Marion Berry and Vic Snyder, of course, voted “aye.”

This isn’t new.

Expressing outrage over the House Democratic Leadership shutting out moderates from health-care negotiations last spring and, then, putting the brakes on Speaker Pelosi’s attempt to push through a hastily thrown together bill before the August recess, Ross’ actions propelled him from relative obscurity to the front pages of the country’s leading newspapers.

Along with the new notoriety, the moderate Blue Dogs’ point man on health-care reform drew the ire of furious liberals who accused him of obstructing the Democratic agenda and suspecting conservatives who claimed he was only seeking temporary political cover to avoid drawing a potential Republican challenger.

But following the summer recess, after many Democratic members of Congress endured all-out public assaults back home in their districts, some of his critics predicted that despite all his quibbling, he would eventually quiet down and get in line.

That didn’t happen.

His “no” vote was not a surprise, but his strong words against the bill were. Democrats now worry that both Berry’s and Snyder’s opponents can use Ross’ statement, which reads like it was written from a set of Republican talking points, as a political weapon.

But you don’t have to take my word for it, here’s a sampling:

“You overwhelmingly told me that you were opposed to the original 1,000 page House healthcare reform bill and its $1 trillion price tag. Now, the new House health care reform bill is over 2,000 pages and cost over $1.2 trillion. Washington may not have heard you, but I heard you loud and clear, and that’s why I voted against creating this massive new government spending program that we simply cannot afford.

“We must stop the out-of-control spending in Washington and begin reducing our skyrocketing national debt. If we do not, we will begin to suffer from massive inflation, costing our already fragile economy even more jobs.

“This is not the time to force employees to buy health insurance they cannot afford or require struggling small businesses to provide it. This is not the time to raise federal taxes$730 billion. And, this is not the time to impose new and costly mandates on our local school districts and city, county and state governments, which would likely require tax increases on working families. In fact, Governor Beebe has stated that the Medicaid provisions in the House healthcare reform bill could increase the state budget in Arkansas $205 million by 2015.”

He explained that the Democrats’ bill does nothing to reduce government health-care spending, but instead increases it by nearly $600 billion. Contrary to the party line, Ross said the bill would cut Medicare by $400 billion, endangering seniors and possibly forcing rural hospitals to close.

Giving credence to South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson’s argument expressed in his controversial outburst during President Obama’s address to Congress, Ross said, “I also voted against the health-care reform bill because it allows illegal immigrants to purchase private insurance in the newly created government exchange.”

But Ross’ bottom line:

“During this economic crisis, I believe we should be focused on putting people back to work, not growing the size of the federal government with increased spending, new mandates and higher taxes.”

If Ross had simply cast his vote quietly - eschewing the inflammatory rhetoric - then the potential harm to Berry and Snyder could have been lessened.

But keeping quiet - especially about health care - isn’t Ross’ modus operandi.

DAVID J. SANDERS IS A COLUMNIST IN LITTLE ROCK.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/12/2009

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