John Shimkus

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I wish to acknowledge the residents of Pope County celebrating their Bicentennial Anniversary. Pope County was established on January 10, 1816, when it received its name from Nathaniel Pope, then Secretary of the Illinois Territory. In 1818 when Illinois entered the Union as a free state, the population of Pope County mostly reflected the emigration of Europeans to America that occurred in the 19th century. Pope County has since been the home to many notable citizens including: American Civil War General James L. Alcorn, Military Governor of South Korea (preceding the Korean War) John R. Hodge, and American Civil War General Green B. Raum. Pope County is also home to the Shawnee National Forest, which covers one third of the county, and provides residents and tourists with lakes, creeks, caves, rock formations, valleys, and wooded hills that are excellent for hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, and to just get away. Pope County hosts many yearly events, including the 9-day Trail Ride, the River-to-River Relay, and the Deer Festival. The residents of Pope County began celebrating their county's bicentennial on January 10, 2016, and will hold a multitude of festivities throughout the rest of the year. I congratulate the residents of Pope County on the 200th anniversary of the county's founding, and I extend my best wishes for many more.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the Dodransbicentennial, or 175th Anniversary of Richland County. Richland County was created in 1841 by combining sections of western Lawrence County and eastern Clay County. Olney was named the seat of Richland County due to its centrality and desirable proximity to the Fox River. Over the years, many students have benefitted from being able to receive a quality and affordable education at Olney Central College. In addition to its support of education, Olney has a marvelously rich history of being a center of transportation, medicine, culture, and agriculture for Southeastern Illinois. A large colony of albino squirrels first found sanctuary in Olney in the early 1900s. Because of this, inquiring visitors from near and far are attracted to the ``Home of the White Squirrels.'' Olney and Richland County are the home to many churches and volunteer organizations, as well. I look forward to the continued prosperity of Olney and Richland County largely due to its citizens who respect their history and have a vision for their future; I also offer my congratulations on the occasion of the 175th anniversary celebration which will take place from July 22-24, 2016.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge Jerry Sloan for receiving the 2016 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award. Jerry was born and raised outside of McLeansboro, Illinois, where he attended high school and played basketball. He graduated as an all-state player from McLeansboro High School in 1960. The Baltimore Bullets selected Jerry in the 1965 NBA draft, and later traded him to the Chicago Bulls. He retired as a player in 1976. Jerry then was hired on as an assistant coach by the Bulls, and in 1979 he was promoted to head coach. He would serve that position for three years before moving to Utah as an assistant coach for the Utah Jazz. He stayed in that position for four years and then became the head coach in the 1988-1989 season. Jerry coached the Jazz for twenty-three seasons, with two appearances in the NBA finals. Sloan's win-loss record of 1,221-803, placed him third all-time in NBA wins at the time he retired in 2011. He coached the Jazz to sixteen consecutive winning seasons and nineteen playoff appearances. His years coaching the Jazz are also the most years a coach has stayed with one team. He is among only nine coaches who have surpassed 1,000 victories and one of two who have won 1,000 with one team. The Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award honors the memory of Hall of Famer Chuck Daly, given by the NBA to a coach who has spent a lifetime in basketball and has a ``standard of integrity, competitive excellence and tireless promotion'' of the game. I offer my congratulations to Jerry Sloan on his outstanding achievement, and I wish him the best in retirement.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the outstanding success of the Salt Fork Girls Track Team. The Salt Fork Storm posted 52 points to give the school its first ever Class 1A girls track state title on Saturday, May 21. Leading the way were Jenny Kimbro, Abby Nicholson, and Katie Witte. Kimbro won the long jump, the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles, and finished third in the 200-meter dash, Nicholson took fourth in the shot put and sixth in the discus, while Witte took fifth in the discus. Their efforts were enough to bring the title home to Salt Fork. I would like to congratulate girls athletic director Jason Baccadutre and head coach Gail Biggerstaff, who worked hard to help Salt Fork achieve this victory. Kimbro will move on this fall to the University of Iowa, where she will continue her hurdling career, while Nicholson will go on to shot put for Eastern Illinois University. I wish them success as they continue their track and field careers. And I look forward to the continued success of the Salt Fork girls track team, and I extend my best wishes for another outstanding season next year.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the outstanding success of the Goreville High School Baseball Team. The Goreville Blackcats defeated Dozer Park 17-7 on June 4 to give the school the 2016 Class 1A boys' baseball state title. After finishing second in 2010 and third in 2011, this is the Blackcats' first state title, and it was achieved in record-breaking fashion. Coming to bat trailing 7-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Goreville pushed across 14 runs, the most runs in one inning by any team at the state tournament since the IHSA went to its current four-class system. Additionally, Goreville's 17 runs set a new Class 1A record. I know a great deal of hard work and dedication went into this team victory, and I would like to congratulate boys athletic director Todd Tripp, head coach Shawn Tripp, and assistant coaches Kenton Parmley and Bryan Webb, who worked hard to help Goreville achieve this victory. Members of the state championship team include: Blaine Dunning, Nolan Vaughn, Jared Vaughn, Logan Verble, Brendon Davis, Caleb Murley, Tyler Pritchett, Brant Glidewell, Braden Webb, Grant Venus, Chance Duringer, Zane Schuetz, Peyton Geyman, Logyn Frassato, Peyton Massey, Connor Johnson, and Brodie Lenon. I look forward to the continued success of the Goreville baseball team, and I extend my best wishes for another outstanding season next year.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, on roll call No. 258 I mistakenly voted yea when I intended to vote nay.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 2 minutes.

Mr. SHIMKUS. The gentlewoman is correct in her understanding.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Pittenger).

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the chairman of the full committee.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn), the vice chair of the full committee.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2576, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, a bipartisan, bicameral bill to update the way our Nation assesses and manages the risks posed by chemicals and the products that contain them. This is sweeping legislation, Mr. Speaker, with monumental benefits for virtually every man, woman, and child in the United States. The culmination of a multiyear, multi-Congress effort, this legislation on the floor today will mark the first consequential update of the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA, in 40 years. Mr. Speaker, I talked at a graduation event over the weekend, and I said this in the Rules Committee last night. In 1976, I was graduating high school. That was the year we wore plaid bell-bottoms, silk shirts, platform shoes, and I had an Afro. It was not a pretty sight. Much like the bill, the Toxic Substances Control Act, well intentioned, was not a pretty sight. When TSCA was enacted in 1976, it was not meant to examine all chemical manufacturing and uses, but, rather, to create a backstop of protection when potential dangers were otherwise not being addressed. In the nearly four decades since then, concerns have mounted over the pace of the EPA's evaluation of chemicals, the ability of the Agency to meaningfully use its existing authority, and whether the law permits certain regulatory actions. In short, Mr. Speaker, there is a widespread acknowledgment and understandable concern that nobody is well served by the current law. This absence of workable Federal standards has also fostered a patchwork of State regulations. While well intentioned, these State actions have ultimately led to public confusion and a marketplace that has become increasingly uneven, unpredictable, and incompatible with economic and regulatory realities. To stem the tide of uncertainty and protect Americans in every State, almost 1 year ago this Chamber passed legislation to bring TSCA into the 21st century by an overwhelming 398-1 vote and 6 months later our friends in the other body moved their own package of bipartisan TSCA reforms. While both efforts were broadly supported, the House and Senate bills were quite different in size and scope. These differences left many issues that needed to be resolved, requiring many hours of complex discussions and difficult decisions to get us where we are today. The end result of that work is a vast improvement over current law and a careful compromise that is good for consumers, good for jobs, and good for the environment. So what does the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act actually do? The bill gives the EPA more direct tools to obtain testing information on chemical substances, an improvement over the lengthy process they now face. It restructures the way existing chemicals are evaluated and regulated, allowing a purely scientific evaluation to guide those decisions. It clarifies the treatment of trade secrets submitted to the EPA and ensures that the Agency uses only high-quality science in their decisionmaking. It updates the collection of fees needed to support the EPA's implementation of TSCA. Finally, it organizes the Federal-State regulatory relationship in a way that promotes interstate and global commerce while recognizing the efforts already taken by several States. I look forward to this afternoon's debate. I urge my colleagues to support this landmark legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHIMKUS. I have no other speakers, and I will close after the gentleman from New Jersey has closed.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Before us today on the floor, as you have heard, is a bipartisan, bicameral agreement that substantially improves the safety of chemicals that are used by everyone every day. As you have heard, while this is not the bill that a lot of people would have written if they had had their own way, the reality is that this is how the legislative process is supposed to work. I think it is very instructive as we go back to our districts and do the ``Schoolhouse Rock!'' on how a bill becomes a law. There is a great dynamic that is in play. That is what happened here, and that is what brings us to the floor today. This bill represents a balanced and thoughtful compromise that makes long-needed improvements to an outdated and ineffective law. The legislation before us is supported by a broad coalition of stakeholders that ranges from environmental and public health groups to large and small industrial organizations. It has the support of the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce, the American Cleaning Institute, the National Association of Chemical Distributors, the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates, and the American Chemistry Council. There is a list of 143 different groups that have come out in support of this bill. It is worthy of our support as well. I want to thank the staff who worked very hard to get us here today: Chris Sarley, in my office; Dave McCarthy; Jerry Couri; Tina Richards; our head chief of staff of the committee, Gary Andres; along with, of course, Chairman Fred Upton, who allowed all of these people to be at our disposal to get this work done. Mr. Speaker, we have with us in the Chamber legislative counsel. These are the unknown heroes, the people who actually get the late phone calls, who try to help us figure out the language that we are trying to work with. Tim Brown and Kakuti Lin are here. They have my gratitude and my thanks. In an era when we kind of question Federal employees and their commitment to excellence and work ethic, they are good examples of what people really do many times. Thank you very much for your work. I also want to give a nod to the great work done by the House Democratic staff. You are loyal adversaries, and I believe we will continue to be so, but we were able to do well in this process. I thank the Senate Republicans on Mr. Inhofe's staff and the Senate Democrats' staff, from Senator Udall's, Senator Boxer's, Senator Markey's, and Senator Merkley's offices, who all put in long hours and weekends for several months to get this multiyear effort done. It has been a multiyear effort, starting since I became chairman of the committee. And you have seen Gene Green come down and Diana DeGette, who worked diligently with me in the last Congress. I also want to mention that the spiritual leader of this, kind of, was Bonnie Lautenberg, who I know called us numerous times. Behind every great man there is a greater woman. I think Bonnie Lautenberg kind of falls into that category, and I know she is very happy with our success today. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my opening remarks, this bill is good for consumers, it is good for jobs, and it is good for the environment. It is imperative that we pass this bill and get it signed into law without delay. This is graduation time throughout our country--a lot of commencement exercises--and we are always reminded that, really, ``commencement'' means beginning. So even though we are kind of getting to the end of the legislative process of the law, the real test will be the commencement by the EPA in our trying to enact this law and in seeing if it does everything that we say it will do. It is our job on our committee to continue to do oversight to make sure that the things we think are doing well are doing well and that the things that need improvement we look at. You have my support in doing that oversight and overview of this new law as it moves forward. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 742, I call up the bill (H.R. 2576) to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment thereto, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 2576.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the question of adopting a motion to concur in the Senate amendment to H.R. 2576 with an amendment may be subject to postponement as though under clause 8 of rule XX.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the City of Carmi, Illinois upon her Bicentennial. Founded in 1814 and incorporated in 1816, the City of Carmi was named in the first home in Carmi, now known as the Robinson Stewart House. It is the County Seat of White County, Illinois. Carmi has a rich history. Using her natural resources, early settlers used the river for transportation and was involved in agriculture. Today, Carmi citizens still benefit from the natural resources of the coal and oil industry as well as agriculture. One of Carmi's most famous visitors was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln visited the community to speak at a political rally in 1840 and stayed in the building now known as the Ratcliff Inn. Today, The Ratcliff Inn is owned by the White County Historical Society. Today, Carmi boasts of outstanding schools, several stores and businesses on Main Street, many museums owned by the White County Historical Society and a number of parks. I extend my congratulations to Mayor Jeff Pollard and the citizens of Carmi upon this celebration. May the City of Carmi have many successful years ahead.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the 150th anniversary of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Strasburg, Illinois. On April 15, 1866, even before the formation of the Village of Strasburg, worshipers came together to form St. Paul's. The congregation at first had no building in which to worship, and so the first members would meet in each other's homes or in public schools. But it would not be long before the first church was constructed, and in 1954 the current church was built, which to this day offers Sunday services. The parishioners of St. Paul's feel devoted to their parish and to each other, as generations have worshipped together as members of an extended family. St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church has a long tradition of community involvement and care, and for 150 years it has been serving the spiritual and emotional needs of its members and the community. St. Paul's celebrated its 150th anniversary with a special service and an appearance from the Concordia Seminary Touring Choir of St. Louis, and its celebration will continue with special events scheduled for later this summer. I look forward to the continued success of St. Paul's, and I extend my best wishes as it celebrates its 150th anniversary.