Roll Call: Ross a ‘Bulldog’ In Health Care Debate
Demcratic Rep. Mike Ross, who came in for qualified praise here last week for throwing the brakes on Obama health care bill in Congress, citing cost concerns, is the subject of this positive profile in Capitol Hill pub Roll Call:
Ross also is tapping into a growing frustration among rank-and-file Members.
“I think between the financial crisis, the auto bailout, the omnibus … the stimulus bill, the energy bill, I think it’s reached a point where not only the Blue Dogs are saying, ‘Let’s slow down here.’ The people back home want us to stop the spending, they want us to have time to read these bills, they want us to have time to debate and understand these bills, and they don’t see that happening.”
[Congressional] Leadership doesn’t yet to seem to get it, Ross said.
“I think they underestimated the Blue Dogs on this. They are dug in. They’re ‘bowed up.’ They’ve all gotten an earful back home.
“We’re more united than we’ve ever been, and so it’s not as easy as inviting one Member in after the next and finding out what their pet project is and helping them.”
Meanwhile, Ross tells The Hill that conservatives in Congress should not hold out hope that the Blue Dog Democrats will kneecap the health care reform effort. Prepare to be sorely disappointed. And prepare for me to have to take back those nice things I was saying about him last week, most likely.
