Representative Ford, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, sits on the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services, both of which will play a key roll in passage of The Act.

Congressman Ford eating lunch with members of the 101st Airborne's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, also known as the Rakkasans (8-17-05). Ford is in his 5th term in Congress and sits on the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services, both of which will play a key roll in passage of The Act

Tennessee Democrat Representative Harold E. Ford and Republican Representative Zach Wamp today announced their co-sponsorship of H.R. 1651, The Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act.

The work of the Coalition for Fair Rental Regulations, a group of rental dealers primarily responsible for moving The Act forward in both houses of Congress, has paid off in recent months with a steady increase in sponsorships for the industry supported bill.

Representative Ford, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats, is in his 5th term in Congress and sits on the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services, both of which will play a key roll in passage of The Act.

The Blue Dog Coalition was formed in 1995 and has built a reputation as a serious player in the policy arena. The 35 conservative and moderate Democrats in the group hail from every region of the country. Taken from the South's longtime description of a party loyalist as one who would vote for a yellow dog if it were on the ballot as a Democrat, the "Blue Dog" moniker was taken by members of The Coalition because their moderate-to-conservative-views had been "choked blue" by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election.

Co sponsorship count for the Rental Purchase Act stands at 38 in the House of Representatives and 17 in the Senate.