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Ross Announces August Telephone Town Halls on Health Care
Aug 06, 2009 (Congressional Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) --
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Mike Ross (AR-04) will host his fourth and fifth telephone town halls this year live on Thursday, August 13 and Thursday, August 27 for residents in Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District. During the call, Ross will take questions and listen to the concerns and thoughts of his constituents on health care reforms.
"On each of our first three telephone town halls, we had an average of 5,000 callers per call. That's three times more participants in one telephone town hall than we had at all of our 35 town hall forums in April combined," said Ross.
In April, Ross held 35 town hall forums in each of the 29 counties that make up Arkansas's vast Fourth Congressional District.
"Last week, I stood up to Speaker Pelosi and President Obama and put the brakes on health care reform in the House of Representatives so that each Member of Congress would have the opportunity to do what I have already done - 35 town hall meetings on health care," said Ross.
The two telephone town halls will begin promptly at 7:10 p.m. CDT on August 13 and August 27. Any resident throughout Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District can connect into the telephone town hall by dialing the following toll free number and using the included PIN code: Phone: 1- 877-269-7289, PIN: 14573. Anyone may listen to the call and specific instructions will be given to callers if they would like to ask Congressman Ross a question.
"These telephone town halls are tremendously helpful as I attempt to make the difficult decisions that reflect the values and concerns of the people who call Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District home," said Ross. "These telephone town halls are an important means of reaching as many constituents as possible from all 29 counties and 150 towns that I represent at the same time, and from the comfort of their own homes."
Working like a large conference call, constituents will have the opportunity to ask Congressman Ross questions and voice their concerns on the nation's ongoing health care reform debate. As on the previous calls, Congressman Ross will ask a series of survey questions throughout the call to gauge the feelings of the callers toward an issue. Callers will be able to respond by pressing the numbers '1' or '2' on their phone and the survey results will be announced live throughout the call.
"The live surveys throughout the call will provide a way for each caller to share his or her attitude toward a particular issue within this health care debate," said Ross. "This is an interactive way of allowing each constituent to participate in the call as we discuss this incredibly personal and important issue."
Some residents in Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District may receive an automated telephone call from Congressman Ross's office that will give them the option to be automatically connected into the telephone town hall. In addition, Fourth District residents will have the opportunity to join the town hall by dialing the following toll free number and using the included PIN code: Phone: 1- 877-269-7289, PIN: 14573.
"A critical part of my job is listening," said Ross. "That is why I never moved to Washington and why after the last vote each week I am on the very next flight back home to Arkansas to listen to my constituents. In April, I hosted 35 town hall forums in each of the 29 counties in Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District. However, many working families, parents of small children and senior citizens had difficulty attending these events and this new technology allows me to bring the town halls right to them."
In addition to the 35 town hall forums he hosted in April and these two district-wide telephone town halls, Ross will be traveling across Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District throughout the August district work period on a listening tour to have one-on-one meetings, conversations and discussions with constituents about health care and how reform will impact their lives.
For more information on the health care or the telephone town halls, please visit Congressman Ross's website at http://ross.house.gov/healthcare.
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