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August 31, 2006

Carnahan to aid speaker series

Congressman hopes to bring international figures
Andy Dierker

Congressman Russ Carnahan met with former Missouri Governor and Webster professor Bob Holden to discuss the Holden Public Policy Forum Aug. 29. The HPPF, announced last spring, is Webster's speaker series and one of Holden's pet projects on campus.

Holden hopes Carnahan, who sits on the House's International Relations Committee, can help bring more international figures to Webster campuses.

"Russ has input that could be helpful on Webster's behalf," Holden said. "The International Relations Committee is one of the biggies. He's one of just two or three on that committee that aren't from the East or West coasts."

Carnahan, a Democrat from the congressional district encompassing St. Louis and Webster Groves, said he had to fight hard to secure his spot on the committee.

"I had to really make a case that besides my personal interest in international relations, we also have a big international interests in St. Louis," Carnahan said. "One of (those interests) is Webster University."

Holden emphasized that Webster's status as an international institution is one of its strongest selling points in getting big names to speak in the HPPF.

© Copyright 2006 The Journal

July 22, 2006

House Democratic Leader Pelosi Addresses College Democrats: Introduces 2006 Legislative Agenda

ST. LOUIS- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi gave a rousing address at the College Democrats' National Convention. After an introduction from Congressman Russ Carnahan and a student-member of College Democrats, Leader Pelosi brought convention attendees to their feet with calls to change the majorities in the United States House of Representatives and the US Senate.

Leader Pelosi congratulated Congressman Carnahan on several accomplishments including his recent appointment to the International Relations committee and the sub-committee on terrorism. She also focused on the Congressman Carnahan's support of life-saving cures in medical innovation, particularly focusing on his efforts to support stem-cell research in Missouri.

Leader Pelosi went on to promote the legislative agenda that Democrats will pursue if they take over leadership in the House of Representatives following November 2006 elections. The Democratic legislative agenda outlined by Leader Pelosi includes: rolling back tax breaks for oil companies, lowering interest rates for student loans, following the 9/11 Commission findings, promoting alternative energy sources to end international oil dependence, opposing the privatization of Social Security and making healthcare affordable for all citizens.

She finished her address by highlighting a number of races around the United States that Democrats need to win in order to take control of the House of Representatives. She encouraged College Democrats to work on Congressional races in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Ohio among other contested states around the country.

May 30, 2006

Work begins on next leg of Hwy. 21

By Tim Rowden
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

State and county officials had a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday to mark the start of work on the next leg of improvements to Jefferson County's notorious "Blood Alley," otherwise known as Highway 21.

"This is going to be a transformational project for Jefferson County," said Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, before joining county officeholders and state highway officials in turning over ceremonial shovels full of dirt near the spot where improvements to Highway 21 currently end beneath the Highway A overpass in Hillsboro.

Highway 21 cuts a north-south swath through central Jefferson County and earned the nickname of Blood Alley in the 1980s because of the high number of deaths occurring on the highway between the St. Louis County line and Hillsboro. Officials say about 16,000 motorist a day use the highway as it travels through Jefferson County.

Completing improvements on the highway, Carnahan says, will allow the name of Blood Alley to be retired and allow Highway 21 to be removed from the list of the most dangerous roads in the nation.

Officials opened a 2.33-mile, four-lane divided expressway section of Highway 21 between Highways A and B west of Hillsboro in December. However, a 4.5-mile gap of narrow two-lane highway still separates the improved sections between Lake Lorraine Road and Highway A.

The new $14.7 million improvement project will extend the four-lane divided highway about 1.4 miles from Highway A to Hayden Road.

Fred Weber Inc. was awarded the construction contract for the project in May and is expected to complete the project by the fall of 2007.

Work to improve the section between Lake Lorraine and Hayden Road is scheduled to begin in spring of next year.

The improvements between Highway A and Hayden Road will include construction of a new diamond interchange to enter the new highway on the north side of Highway A.

A similar interchange already is on the south side of Highway A.

"We began this process 15 years ago in 1991," said Wayne Wiley, chairman of the Highway 21 Task Force, a group of Jefferson County residents that organized to push for improvements to the road.

"We were losing five or six people a year," Wiley said of the impetus for starting the effort. "A lot of us are alive today because this highway has been built."

Wiley said the goal is to extend the improvements all the way to Highway 110 in De Soto.

Other speakers at Tuesday's groundbreaking included Missouri Transportation Director Pete Rahn, Rep. Belinda Harris, D-Hillsboro, Jefferson County Presiding Commissioner Mark Mertens and Hillsboro Mayor Frank Roland, whose wife, Evelyn, died in an accident on Highway 21 in 1997.

May 13, 2006

Region's disaster readiness is criticized

By Elisa Crouch
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

The St. Louis region has "glaring needs" in disaster response and protection from a terrorist attack, U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan said Friday.

Carnahan, D-St. Louis, released a security analysis of the 3rd District that says Congress is underfunding homeland security needs, making the region's ports, roads and waterways more vulnerable to a terrorist-caused or natural disaster.

"There are obvious holes in the security net," said Carnahan, flanked by local public safety officials and U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., who lost a cousin in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Carnahan said such funding reductions include a 50 percent cut this fiscal year, to $550 million from $1.1 billion, in a program that provides equipment and training for first responders. Since 2004, he said, reductions to a program that buys equipment and training to firefighters has decreased by 25 percent.

After criticizing his Republican colleagues for approving the cuts, Carnahan blamed fractured governments in the St. Louis region for falling behind in spending what they have.

Missouri Auditor Claire McCaskill reported Thursday that the state has received $175 million for homeland security measures but has spent only $72 million.

Her audit found that the state has distributed almost 19,000 pieces of protective suits or equipment to local law enforcement statewide. Much of the equipment was not readily available and was still in warehouses at the time of the audit.

"That's an example of funds we've had allocated, but it's not getting down to the first responders who need it," Carnahan said.

May 11, 2006

Gathering of phone call data worries some area legislators

By Deirdre Shesgreen and Ron Harris
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

A report that the National Security Agency has been collecting telephone records of millions of Americans sparked condemnation from many bistate-area Democrats and concern from some local Republicans.

"We need to subpoena members of this administration who've been involved in these activities," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat. "I think there are very important constitutional questions about whether they have gone too far."

Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, called the report "stunning" and said it raised "gigantic red flags." He said it also cast doubt on the president's earlier statements that the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program involved only domestic calls to or from a location overseas.

"It's just another step closer to a Big Brother society that I think is not going to sit well with the American people," Carnahan said. "The bottom line is the American people deserve to know what's going on, and I hope that Congress will do a serious job of investigating and exercising their oversight."

Area Republicans did not express as much alarm over the program, and Missouri's two U.S. senators voiced support for the administration.

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February 16, 2006

Carnahan gets seat on House International Relations Committee

Associated Press

Rep. Russ Carnahan has won a seat on the House International Relations Committee, which oversees international security, terrorism and other foreign policy issues. The Missouri Democrat from the St. Louis area is replacing New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez on the committee, after Menendez was appointed last month to fill an open Senate seat.

January 30, 2006

Democrats Say Federal Budget Cuts Will Hurt College Loan Program

KSKD

"Paying for college is a key issue, as the U.S. House prepares to vote on a $42-billion budget cutting plan. Democratics warn that the bill could be bad news for families, but Republicans disagree.

At issue is 12-point-five million dollars in student aid. Missouri Congressman Russ Carnahan and his fellow Democrats say if the bill passes, it will result in the largest cut to student loans in history.

More than 160,000 Missouri students have borrowed fedeal money to attend college. Keisha Young was among about 50 students who heard Congressman Russ Carnahan say passage of the current budget bill could make it harder for families to pay for a college education because, he says, of expected higher interest rates.

September 14, 2005

Jefferson County Roads

Jefferson County Journal, Chris Campbell

County roads are safer and smoother, but there remains much work to be done. That was the message U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D- St. Louis, brought to a group of civic leaders and state Department of Transportation (MoDOT) officials assembled at Festus City Hall Monday for a roundtable discussion on future county road improvements. Earlier this year, Carnahan helped pass the federal transportation bill, which provides approximately $21 million in funds for Jefferson County roads. Carnahan said this figure represents an increase of nearly 30 percent from the previous bill, about half of the funds allocated to Carnahan's district. "Frankly, Jefferson County is the area of greatest need," Carnahan said.

August 17, 2005

Fact Finding

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by Deborah Peterson

U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, and his wife, St. Louis Municipal Judge Debra Carnahan, spent Sunday in Israel meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, after lunching Thursday on a kibbutz with Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres and dining Thursday night at the Tel Aviv residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer. The Carnahans returned to St. Louis on Monday after a two-week trip to the Mideast as part of a 14-member Democratic delegation.