A week after he visited Cochise County, Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Poe of Texas introduced a bill to ensure areas along the border without cell phone service will see the problem corrected.

Poe, who represents a district in the Houston area, visited ranchers and toured the border in the county at the request of the wounded Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, whose 8th District in Arizona includes all of the county. Poe is calling the proposal the “Southern Borderlands Public Safety Communications Act.”

On the floor of the House of Representatives on Thursday, he said “I am filing legislation that is the idea of Ms. Giffords,” and noted it is in memory of Cochise County rancher Rob Krentz, who was murdered on his own property in March of last year.

“News reports indicate Mr. Krentz was in a cell phone dead zone when he was murdered, and this bill will provide people in remote areas on the dangerous bolder area with cell phone service to call for help,” Poe said.

As he talked about Krentz, he pointed to the blowup of an article in Tucson Weekly, a Wick Communications paper with a story about the slain rancher.

A copy of the publication had been given to President Barack Obama by Giffords, her spokesman C.J. Karamargin said Thursday.

The spokesman said even though the congresswoman and congressman are on different sides of the political aisle, they have worked together on many border and homeland security issues.

Poe had visited the congresswoman’s district a year earlier. He said returning to gather more information shows he and Giffords have a good working relationship and friendship, Karamargin said.

Poe took the U.S. government to task for failure to help border residents while on the House floor saying, “If the federal government is going to refuse to protect its citizens, the least it can do is allow people the resources to protect themselves.”

He ended his comments with his signature phrase, “And, that’s just the way it is.”

In July of last year, Giffords brought Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi, to the county and they, too, visited with the Krentz family, other ranchers, business people, citizens and local and federal law enforcement officers in Douglas.

Thompson heard from Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever about the numerous unfulfilled promises to upgrade rural communications by the federal government.

The Mississippi congressman was surprised and said he had been told communications Interoperability in rural areas had been fixed, leading Dever to shake his head, adding that there are too many dead zones.

The congressman promised to look into what he was told and the reality of the situation.

Poe’s bill currently does not have a House number. If it becomes law, it requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to make grants for public-private partnerships and includes providing $10 million for a three fiscal-year period, with the funds coming from the International Forestry Cooperation Act of 1990, which would be repealed.

During his March 25 tour of the county, Poe met with Krentz’s widow and saw firsthand some of the border fencing, which he said, “will stop cars but not people.”

It was then he told the media he intended to introduce a bill to ensure those living in remote rural areas will be able to connect with law enforcement.

While on the floor of the House, Poe said, “Mr. Speaker, foreign invaders are threatening the people who feed America. �- I met with border ranchers who live in fear each day because they don’t know who or what is lurking on their land. �-”