Mike Ross quotes:

Our volunteer fire departments know their needs better than Washington, D.C. They need more flexibility on spending grant money from FEMA and Homeland Security.

I believe it is time for me to begin a new chapter in my life by spending more time with my family and exploring new opportunities here at home in Arkansas.

Redistricting and a broken, polarized Congress have made it tough to be a moderate in Congress.

While I have worked hard to bring folks to the middle to craft common-sense solutions to the many problems that confront our nation, Washington is mired in gridlock, gamesmanship and constant partisan bickering.

I'm one of those that have said, one of my key principles is I will not support a health care reform bill that is not deficit-neutral, period.

I think more so than the Republican Party, we reflect America on the Democratic side of the aisle, and that's a healthy thing. I mean, that's what democracy is all about.

Our forefathers never envisioned that a handful of staff write a bill and you rush it through a committee without reading it and you rush it to the floor without reading it, and you pass it just because you're a Democrat and Democrats told you to do that.

Just look around; you can't help but laugh at something.

A lot of people say, 'Why do health-care reform when the deficits are so big?' But that is when we've got to do it.

I've laid down my set of principles, so I will not force government-run health care on anyone.