As U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell wraps up his first year in office, the freshman Congressman recently said while he is proud of his accomplishments thus far, he sees job creation in North Carolina’s Eighth District as the major task at hand.

For the former textiles worker and high school civics teacher, the first year in Congress has been one of peaks and valleys.

Within weeks of taking office in January 2008, Kissell championed the Kissell Amendment to the stimulus package, boosting domestic textiles production — a cause former Rep. Robin Hayes also fought for unsuccessfully in other trade bills.

During the course of the year, he grabbed headlines with his opposition to the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), especially his introduction of the Repaying the American Taxpayer Act, requiring the sale of TARP-related assets to be directly applied to the national debt while reducing the debt ceiling for every dollar of TARP money returned to the federal Treasury.

He has also received attention for his opposition to the cap and trade on carbon emissions, and his pushes for federal spending measures that support the armed forces.

Perhaps his most publicized victory in support of veterans was securing $88 million in taxpayer money in the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations Bill to construct Fort Bragg’s Warrior in Transition Complex.

Recently, however, Kissell has come under fire from members of his own party for voting against the health care reform package put together by senior Congressional Democrats, citing cuts to Medicare and home health care subsidies.

He was featured in a December article in the Washington Post, with party officials from the Eighth District and several counties criticizing his position.

Through numerous statements over the past year, he has expressed a willingness to work on bi-partisan efforts, and has said he will only vote for something he feels is in the best interest of the citizens he represents.

Throughout the highs and lows of the past 11 months, Kissell said the same issue has remained at the forefront of his platform.

“Jobs, jobs, jobs,” he wrote in an e-mail to the Daily Journal, repeating a familiar chorus.

“I believe the people in the Eighth District want to be able to support and provide for their families,” Kissell wrote. “They are concerned with the economy and the years of staggering unemployment rates. Our counties have been hurting for a long time, and they want real solutions to making their communities thrive again.

“I'm working right alongside them to make sure that happens.”

That work has included hosting forums such as the Rural Listening Tour stop in Hamlet with a pair of Obama Administration cabinet members and U.S. Sen. Richard Burr; hosting a Federal Contracting Symposium in November to help local businesses meet federal contractors and a Federal Resources Summit he co-hosted with Seventh District U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre in Maxton earlier this month.

Another effort came in his support of the stimulus package, officially titled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

“I believe, if not for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, our economy would be much worse than it currently is,” Kissell wrote. “I’m not sure we would be seeing any signs of economic recovery.”

He said the district has benefited from the stimulus through education funding which saved teaching jobs, public infrastructure projects dealing with water, transportation and housing needs in the area and investment in energy efficiency and community health centers.

“I would like to see the funding move more quickly into the communities, and I’m working hard to make sure that happens,” Kissell added.

In his mind, though, the district’s biggest asset in attracting industry and entrepreneurs isn’t located in Washington, but in “the talented workforce we have here.”

“The biggest thing we need to do is make sure we are working together to showcase the workforce and assets that this area has to offer,” he wrote. “We want to make sure as the economy recovers that it doesn’t pass us by, and to do that, we have to be proactive in recruiting businesses to the area.”

Kissell has had amendments added to several bills including the Credit Card Bill of Rights, the Weapons Acquisition System Reform through Enhancing Technical Knowledge and Oversight of 2009, the National Defense Authorization Act and authored the Teacher Tax Credit Extension Bill.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done in Washington so far,” Kissell wrote, citing many of these issues. “... We still have lots of work to do, and I’m looking forward to the next year of serving the people of the Eighth District.”

Kissell also said he has secured more than $1 billion in federal funding for the Eighth District throughout his first year in Congress, including more than $400,000 for improvements to the Richmond County Airport through the Transportation Appropriations Bill, justice assistance grants in the amounty more than $72,000 for the county, more than $45,000 for the City of Rockingham and more than $24,000 for the City of Hamlet.