Timothy Johnson

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 250 I was inadvertently detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this time to recognize Mr. Craig Bazzani for his many years of continuing service to the 15th District of Illinois. A graduate of Illinois State University, Mr. Bazzani has shown exemplary dedication to my home state. Throughout his twenty-five year tenure at the University of Illinois, Mr. Bazzani has held several key positions that have enabled him to make immense contributions to the betterment of the institution. He played an important role in the design of a major debt-financing program, introduced the first University Financial Accounting System, developed the labor relations program, assisted the University in making major strides in the provision of multiple sources of energy for its buildings and facilities, and took the initiative to modernize all of the areas that reported to him. But what leaves an even more lasting impression is the deep devotion he has shown to his co-workers, inspiring in them the necessary confidence to complete the difficult tasks with which he has been entrusted. The University will surely miss Craig's incisive and effective style of administration, but joins me in wishing him the best of luck in his retirement and all of his future endeavors. We thank him for his many years of service to the University, knowing that only the most honorable of people could ever fill his shoes.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this time to congratulate and thank the Girl Scouts of the USA for their 90 years of service and dedication to the young women of our nation. I am extremely blessed to have two extraordinary Girl Scout Councils in my district that truly deserve to be honored during this 90th Anniversary Celebration. Serving over 4,000 girls, the Green Meadows and Centrillio Girl Scout Councils have clearly demonstrated their strong commitment to the development of strong and confident young women. We must not forget that these women are those who will become the future leaders of our communities, our nation, and our world. In addition, the Girl Scouts have throughout their history allowed many adult volunteers the opportunity to reach out to young women in the community and act as positive role models and mentors. I ask all of my colleagues in the House to join me in taking the time this week and throughout the year of their 90th Anniversary Celebration to honor the Girl Scouts of the USA for their hard work and dedication in providing an atmosphere ``Where Girls Grow Strong''.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, in light of the tragic events of September 11th, I would like to present a letter that my son, Chris Johnson, wrote: There's so much to say about the 4 plane crashes on Tuesday, it's hard to know where to start. First of all, I feel very, very, sad about the horrible loss of life in these crashes. I am also feeling very grateful for the courage of many Americans--both on board the airlines that crashed, as well as the rescuers who have volunteered to help in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Tuesday's attacks on our country were sickening acts of evil. They make me feel angry and revengeful and protective of my country. My dad called us from Washington, D.C. right after the third hijacked plane hit the Pentagon building. They had just evacuated the Capitol building and he was calling to say he was OK. I wasn't worried. I have a lot of confidence in my dad and I know that he is a survivor. I think the citizens of our country should feel the same and remember that our elected officials are working dutifully to do all that they can to help keep our country safe and protected. Our President and our Congressmen, now more than ever before, need our full confidence and support. My mom's best friend lives in an apartment building in New York City, right across the street from the World Trade Center. She called my mom Tuesday night to tell her she was alive. She ran outside of her apartment Tuesday morning in her pajamas, to see what was wrong and saw the second plane fly into the tower right over her head. She reported to my mom that she ran for her life down the street and then over the Brooklyn Bridge (barefoot and in her pajamas!) to safety across the bay. She said that the steel and glass was raining down from the sky onto her head. She said it was instantly so hot that the glass windows of her apartment building were melting down the side of the building. She has lost everything she owns, but she is alive. We just thank God she is alive. Many people, thousands, are not alive today. They did not survive this horrible, cruel, evil, insane attack on our country. They have mothers and fathers and children who are heartbroken and suffering a horrible loss. While nothing can be done to bring these lives back to their families, justice--and I mean, Justice--must be done! This will not be easy to accomplish, and in the coming weeks and months, it will get harder and harder for us to remain united in our resolve to stand firm as a country, heal together and strive for peace in the world, but we will. Let freedom ring!

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, today we resume the process of moving forward. All across our great land, people are crying out for justice. We as a Nation now know the horror and the terror that so many in the world experience on a daily basis. The actions taken yesterday by a few without a doubt have the sanction of many. Where is the return of good will that the United States so generously hands out? We, the United States of America, are the promoters of democracy and stability, of justice and of the sanctity of human life. Indeed, we have new fears that did not exist before. However, these fears have brought out a new, untapped, infinite reservoir of courage and strength never before witnessed in history. Make no mistake, the perpetrators of this act of cowardice will be found. We are engaged in an undeclared war against a tyranny of historical proportions that has no face, bears no names, and yet has many followers. The battle we wage at this moment is a battle against a diseased and flawed philosophy that encourages the attack and the destruction of that which is good and right. Any one person or multiple persons that would attack our Nation, the symbol of freedom for the world, is attacking the tenets of our liberty and a beacon of hope for the world. As we move forward in the days to come, we must carefully use words such as ``safety'' and ``order,'' and we must be cautious when calling for actions that ``need to be taken for the good of the people.'' I encourage my colleagues to be wary of any suggested government action that would infringe on our freedoms. Any encroachment of our civil liberties is a victory for the perpetrators of yesterday's heinous crimes. We must continually bear in mind the words of Benjamin Franklin when he had stated that ``those who would sacrifice their essential liberty to seek a small portion of temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.'' Freedom is not our greatest liability, it is our greatest asset.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and its new role in building the largest, most comprehensive computational infrastructure ever deployed for open scientific research. The Distributed Terascale Facility, or DTF, will provide the computing power that will enable the scientific discoveries of the 21st century, including computers capable of processing trillions of calculations per second and hundreds of terabytes of data storage capacity. The DTF computing systems will begin operation in 2002 and the network connecting these computational and data resources will be 16 times faster than today's fastest high speed research network. On Wednesday, September 5, in my State of Illinois, a new facility is being dedicated, which will house the main computing engines of the DTF. The state-of-the-art facility will be connected to resources and research centers across the country through an ultra-highspeed network. There is no question that scientific research is crucial to our nation's future success. Scientific discoveries and technological innovations not only drive our economy, but they provide a better quality of life for our citizens. In the recent past, we have seen phenomenal scientific advances that promise to help us understand the workings of the brain, discover new drugs to fight cancer, accurately predict severe storms, and build safer, more durable airplanes, buildings and bridges. The high-performance computers and resources connected by an ultrafast network to form the DTA ``teragrid'' will enable the discoveries of the next century. Using the teragrid, scientists and researchers across the continent will be able to share resources, call upon remote databases, develop new applications and visualize the results of complex computer simulations. I applaud all those involved in this partnership to make the DTF a reality: the National science Foundation for providing $53 million for the project; Qwest Communications, IBM, and Intel, for their technological contributions; and the research centers that will build and deploy the DTF-The National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the San Diego Supercomputing Center at the University of California, San Diego; Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois, and the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In closing, I extend my best wishes and congratulations to the dedicated people in these organizations who are clearly committed to employing cutting-edge technologies to build the 21st century's computing and information infrastructure. This infrastructure will help keep our businesses competitive, assist the best scientists and researchers across our nation in advancing the frontiers of discovery, and allow us to solve the most pressing problems of our time.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on August 1, 2001, the University of Illinois and every fan of Illinois athletics, lost a close, dear friend by the name of Dwight ``Dike'' Eddleman. Dike Eddleman was what every young boy dreams of becoming as a kid, the perfect athlete. In his career at the University of Illinois he earned 11 varsity letters in football, basketball, and track & field and if you ever wanted to meet a dedicated athlete and human being, you wouldn't have had to look any further once you met Dike. From the fall of 1947 to the fall of 1948, Dike was in training or in competition on 354 of the 365 days. From this dedication came one of the most impressive athletic careers that has ever been assembled, highlighted by a two year span when he led the football team to the Rose Bowl, the basketball team to the Final Four, and competed in the Olympic Games. In 1993, the University of Illinois' Division of Intercollegiate Athletics appropriately named the University of Illinois male and female Athlete of the Year awards after Dike, ensuring that we would never forget his accomplishments and dedication. Dike Eddleman will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished colleague and senior, mentor, from the State of Minnesota, for this colloquy, and for the opportunity for us to address a critical and serious issue in a very positive vein. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in strong support of the Bush administration's decision today to deny California's request for a waiver from the reformulated gasoline oxygen requirement. Americans should not have to choose between clean air and clean water. Today's announcement ensures that the citizens of California do not have to make that decision. This is also a victory for our Nation's corn producers. My home State of Illinois is the number one producer of corn-based ethanol. At a time when farmers are facing, at the very least, difficult economic conditions, today's actions will be a much needed shot in the arm. This decision will add more than $1 billion to the depressed farm economy. Ethanol is renewable, it is nontoxic, and it is domestically produced. This means jobs for American workers. California has wisely chosen to eliminate MTBE from its gasoline supplies, and as my State has done recently through an initiative by State Representative Bill Mitchell and State Senator Dwayne Nolan, we have acted likewise at a State level to ban that substance. I have joined with my distinguished colleagues here and other Members of the House and Senate to introduce similar legislation. We hope for its passage at the Federal level. The California elimination represents 11 percent of California's fuel supply. Without the addition of ethanol, gas prices would rise dramatically. By denying the waiver and maintaining the oxygenate standard, the lost volume will be replaced with ethanol, which is less expensive than MTBE. Ethanol contains twice the oxygen as MTBE, so blenders will need only half as much ethanol by volume. In fact, the decision will allow ethanol to replace MTBE at half the cost to consumers. Ethanol currently has 20 percent of the oxygenate requirement market in California. Most if not all petroleum companies in California have experienced using ethanol in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tucson, and Seattle- Portland. The ethanol market is poised to expand to meet the needs of the California market. In conclusion, again, I thank the gentleman for this opportunity, and I applaud in the strongest possible terms the Bush administration for its wise, forthright decision to provide both clean air and clean water to the citizens of California, and for opening up a new market for Illinois and Midwest-grown ethanol around the country.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 151. I was inadvertently detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I would likewise like to be recorded as voting yes on rollcall number 126. We were all subject to the same delay at Reagan Airport. I would like to be recorded as voting yea on roll call 126.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, recently, Mr. Kent Krukewitt was named a Master Farmer by Prairie Farmer magazine. I rise today to congratulate Mr. Krukewitt on this prestigious nomination. Kent represents the fourth generation of his family to farm in Champaign County. Not only does he farm approximately 1,800 acres, he is also a leader in the local campaign to get farmers online, connected with the world and to information that can help them conduct business and communicate with landowners. Kent's eventual goal Is to create a secure link on his extensive Web site that allows landowners to dial in and find out information regarding their fields. There are very few members of a community that serve their fellow citizens with the ambition and sacrifice that Kent has displayed over the years. Kent a current co- chairman of the CCNet Ag Task Force, ditch commissioner, and active member of the Homer United Methodist Church has also served as past president of the Champaign County Farm Bureau, Illini FS director, member of the Champaign County Zoning Board of Appeals, and member of the Homer School Board. I am proud and honored to have such a dedicated and influential person in the 15th District.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on February 7, 2001, the 15th District of Illinois lost a dear friend in Seely Johnston. Seely was born May 25, 1903 and lived in the Champaign-Urbana area for all of his 97 years. During that time he made his mark as a Champaign City Council member, sporting goods store owner, and friend of all. Seely said he was always guided by the advice of his father who told him once that making a living is important, but not as important as making friends. Whether it was with the likes of Harry Houdini or one of the many University of Illinois students he had over for breakfast every Sunday morning, Seely took this advice to heart. There are few people, in each community and generation, who not only enrich lives during their lifetime, but also leave a legacy. Seely Johnston was one of these people. Without Seely, the Champaign-Urbana area would have been a lesser place.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on January 3, 2001, I inadvertently missed a vote on rollcall 4, adopting the rules package. Had I cast my vote, I would have voted in favor of the measure. Please accept this unanimous-consent request and have the Record show my intent.

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate and honor a young Illinois student from my district who has achieved national recognition for exemplary volunteer service in her community. Allison Harms of Bloomington has just been named one of my state's top honorees in the 2001 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program, an annual honor conferred on the most impressive student volunteers in each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Ms. Harms is being recognized for her creation of ``Sew On and Sew Forth,'' an organization that provides hand-sewn items such as quilts, teddy bears, pillows, and clothing to the sick and needy in her community. In light of numerous statistics that indicate Americans today are less involved in their communities than they once were, it's vital that we encourage and support the kind of selfless contribution this citizen has made. People of all ages need to think more about how we, as individual citizens, can work together at the local level to ensure the health and vitality of our towns and neighborhoods. Young volunteers like Ms. Harms are inspiring examples to all of us, and are among our brightest hopes for a better tomorrow. The program that brought this young role model to our attention--the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards--was created by the Prudential Insurance Company of America in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals in 1995 to impress upon all youth volunteers that their contributions are critically important and highly valued, and to inspire other young people to follow their example. Over the past 6 years, the program has become the nation's largest youth recognition effort based solely on community service, with nearly 100,000 youngsters participating since its inception. Ms. Harms should be extremely proud to have been singled out from such a large group of dedicated volunteers. I heartily applaud Allison Harms for her initiative in seeking to make her community a better place to live, and for the positive impact she has had on the lives of others. She has demonstrated a level of commitment and accomplishment that is truly extraordinary in today's world, and deserves our sincere admiration and respect. Her actions show that young Americans can--and do--play important roles in our communities, and that America's community spirit continues to hold tremendous promise for the future.