This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 25, 2011 - WASHINGTON - There's not much repetition if you ask members of St. Louis' delegation in Congress about their priorities for the year.
To be sure, everyone wants more jobs and a stronger economy, although Democrats and Republicans disagree on how to reach that goal. Beyond the obvious, however, the priorities of area members of Congress offer a study in contrasts.
For example: U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, wants to establish a national civil-rights trail and require more energy-efficient subsidized housing. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Town and Country, hopes to help cut the federal budget deficit and authorize a new shore-landing craft for the U.S. Marines. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, is pushing for a jobs fix for transport agencies and progress towards making the region a green energy research hub.
With the Republicans gaining a majority in the House in the Congress that convened this month, the local Democrats have given up their former subcommittee chairmanships -- becoming the "ranking" Democrats on Republican-led panels -- while Akin has risen to chair the Armed Services sea power subcommittee, on which he had served as the ranking GOP member.
Here are summaries of what those three congressmen and their staffers have outlined as their priorities in the Congress that started this month.
Rep. William Lacy Clay
Clay is the new ranking member of a subcommittee on domestic monetary policy in the House Financial Services Committee. He will also remain on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, but won't be the top Democrat on any of its subcommittees. (Before Republicans took over the House, Clay had chaired that panel's census subcommittee.)
With Republican firebrand Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., as the Oversight Committee's new chairman, Clay is expecting a lot of fireworks. Issa has vowed to stage a series of hearings to investigate problems of some key initiatives of President Barack Obama's administration.
"They've set the first hearing this week on the foreclosure crisis" and the Troubled Asset Relief (TARP) program, Clay told the Beacon. He said he plans to become "one of the point people for the White House to ensure that they get fair hearings" in the committee.
This year, Clay said he also will re-introduce legislation to require that the owners of new Section 8 subsidized housing apartments "make their units more energy efficient," so that residents are not faced with unreasonably high utility bills. It would require the use of efficient Energy Star-labeled appliances and other improvements.
Clay told the Beacon that energy costs "take up a sizeable proportion of the tenants' income. So it makes sense to make those units more energy efficient."
The St. Louis congressman also plans to renew his effort to create a National Civil Rights Trail, which would "mark where significant civil rights events occurred," he said. "The trail system, operated by the National Park Service, in conjunction with local communities, would educate the American public about significant civil rights events that occurred throughout the country."
The trail would include a stop in East St. Louis, where the 1917 riots marked an early phase in the civil rights movement; the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis, where Dred Scott first filed his freedom petition in 1846; and the Jefferson Bank site in St. Louis, where Clay's father, former Rep. William L. Clay Sr., and other civil rights leaders led demonstrations starting in 1963.
Rep. Todd Akin
As the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee, Akin told the Beacon that he will be "trying to protect the capability of marines of moving from the ocean to the land."
As a result of Defense Department plans announced earlier this month, Akin said, "the only new vehicle we have that can transport a marine from the ocean to the shore in an initial landing is the vehicle that's being cancelled." That landing craft, called the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), would have cost about $18 million apiece.
Both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Marine Corps commandant said they supported the decision to cancel the $2.3 billion EFV program, and the Marines have asked to be allowed to use that funding on other vehicles, as well as to update its existing fleet of armored amphibious troop carriers.
Akin said that solution is "not acceptable," mainly because the current carriers are extremely slow -- "floating bricks" that go 4 mph, he said -- and are easy targets. He said EFVs, which travel much faster, "can threaten a very large section of beach where a landing might take place. It gets people there with enough speed that they're not seasick."
In general, Akin said in a statement, his subcommittee "must ensure that we are doing all we can today to support our sailors and Marines [and prepare] our Navy and Marine Corps for future threats and ensuring that we maintain peace through strength."
On national issues, Akin -- a new member of the House Budget Committee -- wants Congress "to try to deal with the overall budget problems" and approve a package of spending cuts "to put our country into some sort of financial sanity. That's a bear, because you can't do it without getting into entitlements," he said. "And particularly -- probably -- I'm thinking Medicare."
On local issues, Akin said that, in relation to his committee assignments, "we've been paying a lot of attention to Boeing and the tremendous number of companies -- many of them in our area -- that are subcontractors."
He said he likes the concept of more green space as part of the planned Arch grounds expansion, but cautioned that any federal support for the project is "going to have to be put in the context of budget priorities." And he said the ongoing effort to establish the St. Louis region as a hub for cargo trade with China "puts me in a little bit of an odd situation" because he is worried about China's military belligerence.
Akin also has taken an interest in efforts to reform certain House rules and procedures, especially those related to budget and spending questions.
Rep. Russ Carnahan
As the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Carnahan will be in the midst of oversight hearings related to Afghanistan and other hot spots around the globe.
He's also on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, with seats on its subcommittees on aviation, water resources and economic development. And he has asked for a waiver to allow him to continue to serve on the House Science, Space and Technology committee.
One of Carnahan's top priorities is finding innovative ways to foster the creation of new jobs and try to jump-start the lagging economy. One of his proposals involves legislation to establish an "operating assistance fix" that would give local transit systems such as Metro more flexibility in spending federal mass-transit funds for non-capital expenditures, such as hiring drivers.
Pointing out that transit systems across the country have been forced to cut services and jobs, Carnahan said it is "critical that workers are able to get from home to their place of employment and for consumers to reach local businesses."
Another goal is to find ways to further bolster St. Louis' position as an alternative energy hub, taking advantage of local resources such as its universities and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, which got a grant from the Energy Department last year to lead a consortium that is developing algae-based energy solutions. The goal, he said, is to support the domestic bio-industry and create new, clean-energy jobs. The congressman said alternative energy research and investments in the St. Louis region "are helping to set us on a real path toward energy independence by promoting American innovation."
Carnahan is one of the most enthusiastic congressional supporters of the Gateway Arch grounds expansion and improvement project. "It's a big idea for St. Louis," he said, vowing to support the project to the extent that it is feasible in the current spending environment. "We're talking about a lot of money, but it's possible if there is enough philanthropical and community support -- in addition to whatever funding we can get from federal, state and local sources."
In his position as the top Democrat on the Foreign Affair's oversight subcommittee, Carnahan is interested in continuing his oversight of the U.S. role in Afghanistan, which he believes should start shifting focus from war to peace.
"We have fought the war against the Taliban and the extremists. Now we must fight for peace -- a lasting peace that is every bit as vital to our global and domestic security," he wrote last month in an op-ed article. "It's time to get smarter about how we approach this phase of our operation, to think creatively about how we integrate security, diplomacy and development."
Now that the House is led by Republicans, Carnahan recognizes the need for bipartisan cooperation to get things done. He is the new co-chairman of the Center Aisle Caucus -- a bipartisan group of about 40 House members that aims to promote civility and socializing among Democrats and Republicans.
In the wake of the nationwide discussion of the state of political dialogue that followed this month shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Az., in Tucson, Carnahan and one of the caucus' co-founders, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, are helping organize a forum at Washington University in February that will focus on issues such as civility in politics improving the tone of political dialog. "I've done a lot of work on bipartisan legislation and been involved in bipartisan caucuses," Carnahan told the Beacon.
Carnahan is also interested in following up on efforts - including a bill he co-authored that was signed into law last month -- to require federal buildings to be operated in a more energy-efficient manner.