During His Time As House Republican Leader Poem by senosalim64e senosalim64e

During his time as House Republican leader, Cross joined with then Senate Republican leader Frank Watson to referee the 'rancorous' relationship between House and Senate Democrats and Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich.[2]

In February 2009, Cross and fellow Republican, ranking impeachment committee member Jim Durkin, spoke out about a follow-on controversy over the impeachment testimony of then-U.S. Senator Roland Burris. Burris had been named by Blagojevich to fill President Barack Obama's Senate seat, after the emergence of the corruption charges against Blagojevich but before Blagojevich's removal from office.

Burris had reportedly not mentioned fund-raising contacts allegedly made to him by Blagojevich's brother, Robert Blagojevich, in his testimony, but then filed an affidavit with Democratic impeachment committee chair Barbara Flynn Currie, listing three such contacts, shortly after February 5. Word of the new information did not reach the public, or the Republicans in the House, until its release in the Chicago Sun-Times on February 13. Cross was quoted as saying 'We [Republicans] find it ironic that at the same time Democrats are forming a new committee to clean up corruption, they are sitting on critical information related to the biggest corruption scandal our state has ever seen.