WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross, who spent a decade in the state legislature, is used to political games.
But as she’ll tell you, Congress is a whole different beast.
“All eyes are on Congress,” said Ross. “But the legislating, a lot of the process, the types of personalities in negotiations, I think the General Assembly prepared me very, very well for those things.”
From afar, it would seem like many of those personalities would clash.
But Ross, who lost her 2016 bid for U.S. Senate to Republican Richard Burr, has found areas of agreement.
“If you’ve been around for a while, if you’re a grown up, and again, if you care about the people, you put things aside,” Ross said.
Last month, President Joe Biden signed into law legislation introduced by Ross and Republicans, including Burr, that consolidates Fort Bragg into one federal judicial district. Ross said it cuts the amount of time it takes for some people there to travel to court.
The congresswoman who represents the 2nd District, which covers much of Raleigh, has focused a lot of time on offshore wind energy.
Earlier this year, Ross and Republican Rep. David Rouzer sent a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management urging it to quickly hold lease sales for two projects.
“North Carolina fell behind on offshore wind because of actions of the General Assembly,” Ross said.
The delay Ross is referring to was a now expired moratorium on wind energy put in place by the General Assembly.
But wind energy has a ways to go before it generates the billions of dollars it’s estimated to contribute.
“It’s not going to happen overnight. But North Carolina becoming second in the nation for solar didn’t happen overnight...you got to start somewhere,” Ross said.