Campaign Travels North From Green Bay

(GREEN BAY, WI) Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. kicked off his campaign
Tuesday morning with a tour of the 8th District. The Kagen family and
supporters surrounded Steve at a breakfast in Green Bay as he pledged
to continue working hard for everyone in Northeast Wisconsin.

“During the past two years, I’ve seen how tough it is to change
Washington. We all know we need to move our country in a new
direction, but insiders will not give up their special privileges
without a fight. There is much more work to do, and here in Northeast
Wisconsin, we’ve never been afraid of hard work,” said Kagen.

Kagen will be continuing to work hard in the next several days as he
travels to all corners of his sprawling congressional district. He
set off from the Green Bay breakfast in a caravan with campaign events
scheduled in Shawano, Oconto, Peshtigo, Marinette, Wausaukee, Niagara,
Eagle River, Minocqua, Rhinelander, Antigo, Wittenberg and
Clintonville - having appeared in Shiocton, Kaukauna and Waupaca the
prior weekend.

Kagen will officially announce his candidacy in his hometown of
Appleton on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM at a campaign event in the
Paper Valley Hotel .

“Together, we will continue to bring about the changes we need - like
lowering fuel prices while becoming energy independent, guaranteeing
access to affordable health care, and bring higher-wage jobs back to
Wisconsin where they belong. Washington is supposed to work for the
people of Wisconsin, not the other way around,” said Kagen.

Before being elected to Congress in 2006, Dr. Kagen founded the Kagen
Allergy Clinics in Appleton, Green Bay, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac.
Kagen was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he and his
wife Gayle raised four children.

(APPLETON, WI) — Congressmen Steve Kagen and Congressman Tom Petri joined forces today in a letter to the U.S. Labor Department to request emergency assistance for workers who will be affected by the closure of NewPage Corporation’s Kimberly Mill.

In January, NewPage Corporation announced that it would close part of one of its plants and cut 96 jobs. At the end of last month, the company announced the mill would shut down completely, eliminating about 470 papermaking jobs. NewPage also closed its Niagara, Wisconsin, mill on July 12, putting 319 people out of work.

Kagen and Petri requested Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) grants for the workers, who are losing their jobs because of competition from imports. The aid includes extended unemployment benefits, help with health care insurance, substantial job training, and other education support, Kagen said.

“Hundreds of hard working men and woman here in Kimberly will soon find themselves out of work as a direct result of the failed NAFTA trade policies,” Kagen said. “NAFTA is nothing more than a free give-away of our manufacturing jobs. The very least we can do is secure TAA benefits for everyone. Then, let’s negotiate balanced trade agreements to create a level playing field for American workers and our families across America.”

Petri agreed.

“The Kimberly Mill has highly-skilled workers who turn out a first-class product,” Petri said. “If they can’t continue to do the same jobs, they deserve our help in getting their careers back on track.”

According to the Pulp and Paper Products Council, foreign imports grew from 650,000 tons in 2000 to 1.2 million tons in last year. During the same time, domestic demand remained flat.

“Clearly, the closing of the Kimberly Mill has taken place in an atmosphere of rising imports,” the two Congressmen argued in their letter to the Labor Department.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. arrived home from a visit by a bi-partisan mission to U.S. troops in the Middle East yesterday, saying our servicemen and women in Iraq have performed with incredible skill, honor and courage, and they deserve to come home safely and soon.

“I saw first hand the courage and resolve of our soldiers,” Kagen said. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Now, we should honor their service by bringing them home safely to the heroes’ welcome they have earned.”

Kagen spent five days on a visit to the region to review U.S. military, political, and reconstruction efforts. He first shared the details of his trip with Governor Jim Doyle and Brigadier General Donald Dunbar, adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard.

“It’s time to move our troops away from Iraq’s centuries old religious civil war. We need them here at home to protect and defend our own borders,” Kagen said.

Kagen toured Sadr City, a key battleground in Baghdad, and met with Commanding General David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. The congressional delegation also visited Umm Qasr, a port city in southern Iraq that was the site of one of the first major military operations in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has since played an important role in the shipment of humanitarian supplies to Iraqi civilians.

In Baghdad, U.S. officials responsible for inspecting and overseeing reconstruction efforts told the delegation it was extremely difficult to trace how our tax money was being spent, as receipts are often missing and they have been unable to inspect the buildings due to security concerns. The Army Corps of Engineers also reported that facilities once constructed were poorly maintained or were abandoned due to construction deficiencies.

“We should be building new courthouses in Wisconsin with our hard earned tax dollars – not in Baghdad,” Kagen commented.

Kagen also traveled to Israel, where he met with security officials and visited Sderot, a town on the Gaza border that has been shelled repeatedly by more than 7,000 homemade Palestinian rockets. In Prague, Congressman Kagen discussed a U.S. and NATO sponsored missile defense system to be based in the Czech Republic, as well as energy and economic issues.

Kagen is scheduled to return to Wisconsin when Congress begins August recess.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today left for a visit to U.S. servicemen and servicewomen serving in the Middle East.

“I am looking forward to listening to our brave men and women serving in the region and learning firsthand about their situation on the ground,” said Kagen, who is scheduled to meet with soldiers from Wisconsin now serving in harm’s way overseas.

Kagen’s visit, part of a bi-partisan congressional delegation, was scheduled to include Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, and the Czech Republic and last from July 26 through July 29.

The Congressman plans to review current conditions on the ground in Iraq and assess ongoing political, military, and reconstruction efforts.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Acting to help homeowners avoid losing their homes, Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today voted for the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act, saying that the bill will help families families facing foreclosure keep their homes while their communities recover from the recent lack of confidence in the marketplace.

“With a minimal cost to taxpayers, we can help families remain in their homes,” Kagen said. “This bipartisan bill offers a timely hand to homeowners without bailing out a single special interest.”

The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act expands homeownership opportunities for veterans and helps returning soldiers avoid foreclosure. It also makes it possible for cities and states to purchase and restore foreclosed properties that are currently driving down home prices, reducing state and local revenues, and destabilizing neighborhoods.

“This housing collapse, along with impossible gas prices and skyrocketing costs for health care, is putting Wisconsin working families at risk,” Kagen said. “Bringing this crisis to an end will restore confidence in our economy and put us on the road to economic recovery.”

Kagen said the bill also provides tax breaks to spur home buying and creates a new fund to boost affordable rental housing in both rural and urban areas.

The bill assists veterans of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan by extending the time for commencement of foreclosure proceedings from three months to nine months after a soldier returns from service.

No taxpayer money will be going into restoring the security of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Kagen said.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today signed on to a measure designed to preserve the health of the Great Lakes, saying that the bill ratifying the Great Lakes Compact is part of a comprehensive initiative to guarantee a healthy future for the region.

“Governor Doyle and the other Great Lakes governors are doing their job, and now it’s up to Congress to do what it can to protect forever this precious natural resource,” Kagen said.

In April, Dr. Kagen hosted a field hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment in Green Bay to gather public input that is included in the legislative initiative.

“Healthy water means healthy people and by working together we are guaranteeing a healthy future for our Great Lakes,” Kagen said.

The Great Lakes Compact ensures sustainable use of regional resource by banning withdrawals of water outside the Great Lakes Basin. The goal is to protect the region’s economy and the Great Lakes’ diversity of species, ecosystems, and natural resources for future generations, Kagen said.

Drilling for New Oil in Alaska

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today called for increased drilling for new oil in the Alaskan National Petroleum Reserve, with all oil obtained being to American citizens.

Kagen’s “Oil For Americans Act,” which would restore the prohibition against exporting Alaskan oil to foreign countries and declare that oil drilled in America should be sold solely in America, was included as a provision in the “Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act – the DRILL Act - debated in the House today.

“The Oil for Americans Act guarantees that every single drop of oil coming out of Alaska goes to American citizens,” Kagen said. “We should be drilling for our own oil and guaranteeing it goes to Americans.”

The DRILL Act increases domestic oil supply by speeding the development of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), requiring the Secretary of Interior to offer at least one lease sale annually in the NPR-A. The bill incorporates Kagen’s proposed ‘Use It or Lose It’ legislation, which requires oil producers to drill on domestic leases they already hold or give the leases to someone who will.

Importantly, the bill also calls on the White House to use its powers to facilitate the completion of oil pipelines into the NPR-A and to facilitate the construction of a Alaska natural gas pipeline to the continental United States to quickly move the gas to the marketplace.

Congressman Kagen has created an Energy Advisory Committee made up of local business and industry leaders to explore the impact and implication of the current energy situation.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today said that Midwest Airlines’ announcement to lay off 40 percent of its employees was caused by record fuel prices and signals the urgency for lowering energy costs for businesses and families.

“When well-managed companies with hard-working employees are forced to make such drastic cuts, the time has come for the White House and its allies to do something,” Kagen said. “Midwest Airlines really does have the best care in the air but is being punished by this administration’s failure to solve the energy crisis.”

Kagen called again on President George W. Bush sell some of the oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as a means to quickly ease upward pressure on fuel prices. The SPR is currently at 97 percent of capacity, the fullest the reserve has ever been. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, oil from SPR deployment could hit the domestic market less than two weeks after a Presidential decision.

Deploying a small portion of the resources in the SPR would provide much needed assistance to American consumers and businesses facing crippling prices, Kagen said, without endangering national security.

“We are working hard to find a way forward,” Kagen said. “Drilling for new oil, investing in renewable energy and preventing manipulation of oil prices in our free markets will work in the long term, but in the short term we must take steps to help business who are being forced to cut back, and working families who are struggling.”

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. this week participated in a series of hearings to measure how much the lack of a national energy policy has contributed to financial speculators in the commodities market driving up the price of gas at the pump.

After 17 hours and 28 witnesses in front of the House Agriculture Committee, the conclusion is clear — a lot.

“Today’s energy crisis could have been avoided if we had a national energy policy,” Kagen said. “Lax regulation has been an obstacle to building an energy independent future.”

Kagen cited testimony by the director of Public Citizen’s energy program, Tyson Slocum, who told the committee: “Stronger regulations over energy trading markets would reduce the level of speculation and limit the ability of commodity traders to engage in anti-competitive behavior that is contributing to the record high prices Americans face.”

Kagen called for drilling for new domestic drilling for oil with “every single ounce” made available to U.S. citizens first. He also urged new investments in renewable energy and an end to manipulation in the marketplace.

“Oil companies and large investment firms have made tremendous profits from their speculative behavior at our expense,” Kagen said. “We need effective oversight to prevent the continued price gouging of every American - retirees, working families and businesses large and small.”

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Congressman Steve Kagen, M.D. today said that a new veterans mental health center in Brown County will give area veterans the kind of service they have earned.

“We welcome the opening of this vital facility to provide mental health and readjustment counseling services,” Kagen said. “Our soldiers have answered our call to defend our freedoms, and now we are meeting our responsibility to make sure they have the services they need back here at home.”

Kagen and U.S. Senator Russ Feingold joined other members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation last year to argue for the veterans center in Brown County.

The two leaders are also working with the Bush administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand a community-based veterans outpatient clinic in the county. Work on that facility, named the Milo C. Huempfner Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic and designed to offer a variety of services currently unavailable in Northeast Wisconsin and, is scheduled to begin next year.