(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today commended the majority in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that strikes down a handgun ban in Washington, D.C. that ran counter to the rights of law-abiding gun owners under the Second Amendment.

“Today’s decision by the nation’s highest court upholds our individual rights to keep and bear arms,” Kagen said.

Kagen signed a friend of the court legal brief supporting the lower court decision in a case that challenged the District of Columbia’s gun ban. He also co-sponsored the District’s Personal Protection Act (H.R. 1399), which would restore Second Amendment rights to Washington, D.C. residents.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Saying that protecting the Constitution protects the nation, Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today voted against the newest version of the FISA Amendments Act, which would have granted the Attorney General and the President legal cover to ignore the founding document’s 4th Amendment.

“I take seriously my sworn duty to protect America by defending our Constitution,” Kagen said. “Our intelligence community has the tools it has asked for to defend national security without forfeiting the rights we have always cherished.”

Many observers viewed the administration’s proposed changes to the Foreign Intelligence Security Act as an effort by the administration to extend legal immunity to telephone companies that may be suspected of violating personal privacy laws.

Under the proposal, telephone or Internet companies asked by federal authorities to spy domestically on U.S. citizens would be be immune from any subsequent lawsuits. The new act would have also provided standards and procedures for immunity for telephone companies that may have previously broken the law at President Bush’s request by assisting the federal government with warrant-less wiretapping activities.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today moved to end wasteful government spending by voting for several key domestic investments, including emergency funding for Wisconsin flood victims, an extension of unemployment benefits, and renewed benefits for proven veterans’ education programs.

“Taxpayers want us to invest their hard-earned money here at home, not overseas,” Kagen said. “Today’s actions keep faith with that goal by getting flooded-out families and rural farmers the help they need and guaranteeing our veterans the first-class health care and education benefits they have earned.”

Kagen voted for the 21st Century GI Bill, expanding education benefits to restore full, four-year college costs.

“Let’s make the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan part of an American economic recovery, just like World War II veterans a generation ago,” Kagen said.

Kagen also supported extended unemployment benefits for workers who have exhausted theirs but still not been able to find new jobs.

The bill also provides more than $2.6 billion to make sure critical resources are available to respond to disasters in the wake of recent tornadoes and flooding.

Kagen drew the line at a proposed $165.4 billion to continue the administration’s failed policy in Iraq.

“Enough is enough,” Kagen said. “I will always support our troops, but not President Bush’s policies that put them at risk with no end in sight. We’ve done our job in Iraq. Our brave soldiers took out Saddam, and Iraq has held several free elections. It is time to move our troops away from Iraq, and back after Osama bin Laden and his followers.”

Kagen said the bill provides $4.6 billion for military construction and veterans hospitals, and requires that State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reconstruction aid for Iraq be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Iraqi Government — a key provision setting a new direction and increased accountability in the funding of the Iraq War.

“Iraqi ’s are now enjoying a budget surplus, while Americans are suffering with a budget-busting deficit,” Kagen said. “It’s time to end wasteful government spending in Iraq and invest our hard earned tax dollars right here in America, instead.”

(Washington, DC) — Congressman Steve Kagen, MD today voted for the 2009 Budget Resolution, backing a balanced budget that includes sound investments in energy, education, and infrastructure, tax relief for middle-class families, and guaranteed benefits for military veterans.

“Wisconsin families work hard and live within their means,” Kagen said. “Congress should, too.”

Kagen voted for the balanced budget bill projected to turn around the deficit spending of the current administration and reach a surplus by 2012. The budget contains no tax increases while promoting renewable energy, clean fuel technology, and energy efficiency. It features education and innovation investments to generate economic growth and new jobs, makes college more affordable for working families, and invests in the nation’s infrastructure by repairing crumbling roads, bridges, transit, airports, and schools.

In addition, the balanced budget bill supports significant tax relief, including extensions of marriage penalty relief, the child tax credit, and the 10-percent bracket, as well as allowing for estate tax reform. It includes an additional year of Alternative Minimum Tax relief. And it provides for property tax relief, as well as energy and education tax relief.

Kagen said the bill will help make the nation safer by funding national defense, guaranteeing veterans the quality health care they deserve, and protecting the homeland by rejecting President George W. Bush’s proposed cuts in law enforcement, the COPS program, firefighters, and other first responders.

(Washington, DC) — Congressman Steve Kagen, MD, kicked off June with a conference call to 9,000 residents of Brown and Outagamie counties to discusss health care, veterans benefits, energy, bringing higher wage jobs back to Wisconsin, and other top priorities.

“Our first Tele-Town Hall was a great experience,” Kagen said. “It showed that we can have a regular interactive forum that allows people to participate from the comfort of their own homes.”

Kagen said the innovative conference calls will help him answer questions, listen to concerns, and poll the audience live over the telephone to identify the top priorities facing Northeast Wisconsin.

More than 200 people submitted specific questions for the conference call, and particiapants includes citizens from Shawano, Waupaca, Door, Kewaunee, Oconto, Menominee, Vilas, Florence, Forest, and Marinette counties.

Kagen said he will scheduled the next Tele-Town Hall for citizens in Calumet, Langlade, and Oneida counties.

New Report Gives Wisconsin a Failing Grade in Providing Consumer Protections in the Individual Health Insurance Market

(Milwaukee) — With a new report giving Wisconsin a failing grade in protecting consumer shopping for health insurance, Congressman Steve Kagen, MD, and the advocacy group Citizen Action Wisconsin today announced that they are joining ranks to put an end to health care discrimination.

“This report reinforces the need to put discrimination where it belongs — in the past,” Kagen said. “If you are a citizen, you should be in. If it is in your body, it should be covered.”

Kagen joined Citizen Action leaders and State Senator Kathleen Vinehout, State Representative Jon Richards, and Remy Ceci, a health care consumer and small business owner from Pepin, to publicize the new study published by Families USA entitled “Failing Grades.”

The study finds that insurance companies are allowed to deny health coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, refuse to pay for services needed to treat common ailments, and terminate policies or deny payments when a consumer faces a rash of medical bills. Wisconsin has no authority to protect consumers from such abuses, according to the study. The full report is available at http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/publications/reports/failing-grades.html

“Our Constitution is designed to protect all citizens, even those who are ill,” Kagen said. “It’s time to establish this fundamental principle in health care, too.”

Kagen has proposed the No Discrimination Act, which he calls “the first building block in the new house of health care.” It would bring transparency to the health care marketplace by requiring all health insurance companies to openly disclose their prices, and requires them to charge every citizen within a designated region the same fee for the same service.

(APPLETON, WI) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today urged Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake to help set up a proposed hotline for veterans suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

“Our servicemen and women are performing their duties with incredible skill, but their extended and frequent deployments — with shorter leave times — are causing a great deal of stress,” Kagen wrote in a bi-partisan letter to Secretary Peake and signed by nearly a dozen of his House colleagues.

The Purple Heart Service Foundation has agreed to participate in a PTSD call center staffed by combat wounded veterans.

Kagen, who served as a physician at VA hospitals in Madison, Chicago, and Milwaukee during the 1970s, said other lawmakers signing the letter included Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL), Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-KS), Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA), Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH), Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT), Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV), and Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH).

As many as 20 percent of all soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan experience PTSD, according to estimates, and nearly 40 percent of National Guard and Reserve troops are afflicted with some emotional difficulties.

Kagen said the trained veterans who would staff the hotline are well-suited to respond to fellow veterans in need and would work closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs to facilitate a smooth transition to available services. Currently, veterans are referred to a VA benefits hotline or a suicide prevention center when they call for PTSD-related assistance.

“We applaud the VA for its commitment to meeting the special needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and believe this proposal will help fulfill that commitment,” the letter from kagen and the other lawmakers states. “We believe the hotline as proposed by the Purple Heart Foundation and the Veterans Corps of America will complement the valiant work of the VA in serving the needs of our brave men and women in uniform.”

Kagen and his wife Gayle, President of the Freshman Congressional Spouses Class of the 110th Congress, have championed 2-1-1, a national effort to make the three digit call centers a single point of contact for veterans and their families seeking counseling and other services. Created though a partnership between the United Way, the National Military Family Association, and the congressional spouses, the 2-1-1 service connects veterans with local leaders and agencies that can provide affordable housing, medical assistance and job training.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today commended the House for passing the Veterans Administration Construction Authorization Act (HR 5856), which includes funding for a new Community Based Outpatient Clinic for veterans in Brown County.

“Northeast Wisconsin veterans are another step closer to quality health care close to home,” Kagen said. “This new VA clinic will mean healthy veterans, healthy families, and a boost to our local economy in Brown County.”

Kagen said the bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

“Republicans and Democrats may be divided about war policy, but we are united when it comes to offering health care for veterans here in Northeast Wisconsin,” Kagen said.

The bill authorizes $5.8 million in fiscal year 2009 to expand community-based outpatient care in Green Bay. Working together with the Bush administration and the Veterans Administration, Kagen urged all involved to move up the plans for establishing the new medical center to FY 2009 instead of 2010. This lease will extend for 20 years. The new facility will offer specialty services heretofore not available in northeast Wisconsin to thousands of veterans who have had to drive south to Milwaukee in order to get the care they require.

“As a physician who has served for six years in veterans hospitals, I understand that we need to invest in our infrastructure of the Veterans Administration throughout the country,” Kagen said. “This project could not have happened without the strong bipartisan support of not just the Chairman Bob Filner but also the Ranking Member Steve Buyer and subcommittee chairs.”

Kagen said the bill now goes to the Senate for approval. If the Senate passes the bill it will be sent to the President for his signature.

Washington, DC — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D., today said that his proposed Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act has won broad bi-partisan support, passing the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 324-84.

“In the absence of a national energy policy from this administration, my bill will help set things right for the American people,” Kagen said. “In the long run, we are going to have to loosen the stranglehold other nations have on our economy and exploring new forms of energy.”

The Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act of 2008 would allow the United States to sue foreign oil cartels for anti-competitive price discrimination. It would also allow the Department of Justice Antitrust Task Force to aggressively investigate both gas price gouging and market manipulation.

Kagen said 103 Republicans supported the bill to put in place the means to crackdown on possible anti-competitive practices that could be contributing to the current record-high gas prices. The bill authorizes the creation of the Department of Justice Petroleum Industry Antitrust Task Force charged with examining such issues as price gouging at the gas pump, anticompetitive price discrimination by petroleum refiners, collusion to limit oil supplies and drive prices up, and potential oil price manipulation in futures markets.

In addition, Kagen’s bill requests a GAO study of the effects on competition of prior mergers and divestitures within the petroleum industry.

“This legislation will address the loopholes and exemptions that oil companies exploit at the great expense of our citizens,” said Kagen.

The United States imports nearly 6 million barrels of crude oil per day from Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries. American consumers remain at the mercy of OPEC nations in how much they pay to fill up their tanks. The House will also pass tax incentives this week for investing in renewable energy to create the green jobs of the future.

GREEN BAY, WI — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today told a group at Green Bay’s Howe Elementary School that proper nutrition and increased availability and accessibility of healthy food choices should be top priorities for Wisconsin public schools.

“We are creating a better future for all of us when we invest in our children’s health,” said Kagen.

Kagen is leading an effort in Congress to guarantee that children have the foundation to lead healthy lives. The only member of Congress from Wisconsin on the House Agriculture Committee, he said the Farm Bill passed on Wednesday features a number of provisions that benefit local farm families, promote the production of cellulosic biofuels, and encourage healthy eating.

“I am proud to say that this legislation addresses our fundamental needs, from what we put in our bodies to what we put in our gas tanks,” Kagen said. “It’s good for Wisconsin agriculture, our health, and our economy.”

The Farm Bill included the USDA Snack Program, which helps schools provide healthy snacks to students during after-school activities. The bill also incorporated changes to existing law to allow schools to include locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables for lunches and grant program targeted at developing and testing solutions to the rising rates of obesity in the nation.

Kagen was joined by Green Bay School Superintendent Dan Nerad, Betsy Farah, food service coordinator for the Ashwaubenon School District, and Howe Elementary Principal DeAnn Lehman.

“Every public school district in America now has to have a wellness policy,” said Green Bay Superintendent Nerad. “We think passage of the Farm Bill is an opportunity to advance that agenda.”

“We are very happy to be participating in this wonderful opportunity to work with our local producers and buyers,” said Betsy Farah of the Ashwaubenon district.

The bill also creates a pilot program to encourage the purchase of more fresh fruits and vegetables in low-income households, includes a provision to invest in nutrition programs to adjust to rising food prices, increases attention to nutrition education through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and increase accessibility to Farmers Markets. Other provisions ensure that Senior Citizens have ample access to food that is healthy and fresh and provides senior citizens with vouchers to buy fresh produce at markets and roadside stands.