John Shimkus

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize that this week of January 24-30, 2010, is National Nurse Anesthetist Week and want to acknowledge the high quality health care that Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) provide in my district and to patients around the U.S. Nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia care to patients in the United States for nearly 150 years and are anesthesia professionals who safely administer approximately 32 million anesthetics to patients each year in the United States. They are the primary anesthesia providers in rural America, enabling healthcare facilities in these medically underserved areas to offer obstetrical, surgical, and trauma stabilization services. In some states, CRNAs are the sole providers in nearly 100 percent of the rural hospitals. Without CRNAs, America's seniors would lack the care they need since CRNAs predominate where more Medicare patients reside. Furthermore, CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered: traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms; critical access hospitals; ambulatory surgical centers; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, and pain management specialists; and U.S. military, Public Health Services, and Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities. In fact, nurse anesthetists have been the main providers of anesthesia care to U.S. military men and women on the front lines since WWI, including current conflicts in the Middle East, and they are currently providing much needed care to patients in Haiti as they seek to recover from the recent devastating earthquakes. Not only do they provide high quality anesthesia care in rural and medically underserved areas, they do so cost-effectively. It is no surprise that health plans increasingly recognize CRNAs for providing high-quality anesthesia care to patients, and for helping to control healthcare costs without cutting corners. In a time of escalating health care costs, it is important to note that the cost-efficiency of CRNAs helps control escalating healthcare costs. In my own congressional district, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville is home to one of America's 108 accredited nurse anesthesia educational programs. The people of my community appreciate the very fine work of this institution, and the care provided by SIUE's CRNAs across central and southern Illinois and around the country. For CRNAs across the U.S. and those serving our nation in the Armed Forces, I commend you for your work as a profession and your passion for patients.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my opposition to the encroachment of federal authority into matters of the state and the continued appeasement of environmental special interests over the well- being of the American people. Several weeks ago, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency permitted the construction of a new coal gasification plant near Waltonville, IL. An appeal was filed to prevent construction with the U.S. EPA based on their ``finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases represent a significant threat to public health and welfare.'' Burdensome regulations levied on unsubstantiated science will destroy jobs. Coal gasification, the production of coal gas to convert into liquid gasoline, is a real solution to rising energy prices and it creates jobs here in the United States. Taking drastic precautionary steps like those suggested by the EPA will have profound consequences on workers in Southern Illinois and all people throughout the country. Government action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is not without a heavy cost. It is irresponsible for a group of unelected bureaucrats at the EPA to make significant policy decisions that will restrain and prevent job creation based on unproven science. The EPA's response to their endangerment findings will more certainly endanger the economic well-being of Americans than fulfill the Obama Administration's promise of reducing carbon emissions or lowering global temperature.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, Illinois for reaching the centennial milestone. Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church opened in 1909 on Vaught Avenue in Mount Vernon and held services at the location throughout 1960's. After being sold, the congregation was unable to find a new location. Being unwilling to dissolve their tight-knit congregation, the Shiloh Missionary Baptist family held services at a member's home for years before acquiring property on Conger Avenue in Mount Vernon. In spite of adversity, including a disastrous fire in 1999, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church has held true to its mission in the community and has become a part of Mount Vernon. Its congregation continues its outreach ministry to troubled youths and many others in the community. I want to join with the members of this House in congratulating Reverend Lawrence James and the men and women of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church on celebrating one hundred years of good works, to thank them for all they do for our community and to wish them another hundred years of success.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the achievements of the Principia College Solar Team at this year's Global Green Solar Challenge. Thirty-two teams from around the world traveled to Darwin, Australia for a 3000 kilometer race across the Australian outback in solar powered cars. Only nine teams were able to finish the grueling challenge, included among them was this outstanding group from Elsah, Illinois. Principia's Ra7 finished seventh in the world in this year's race and third among American entries. While other teams spent millions from corporate sponsorships, the Principia team spent less than $180,000. The winner, Tokai University of Japan, was sponsored by Sharp Electronics, a leader in solar engineering. This year's runner-up was sponsored by the European Space Agency. When the race was over, Principia earned the Safety Award from race officials, their fourth overall and first in international competition. I want to congratulate John Broere (Director of Engineering Science), Joe Ritter (Assistant Dean of Academics) and the members of the Principia College Solar Team on their outstanding achievement. Their efforts have done much in accelerating this exciting field of scientific exploration.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to join in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of an important community organization in Collinsville, Illinois. The Junior Service Club has worked for three quarters of a century to better the lives of the children in the community. The group's volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide fun activities for the community's youth. Over the decades, they ensured the children had a good meal during the holidays and have taught them the value of service to one's neighbors. The club's fundraising efforts have gone to benefit hospitals, fire victims, community parks, senior programs and scholarships for graduates of Collinsville High School. Today, the club consists of about 50 members. Many of the volunteers are teachers who represent the third generation of their family to belong to the Junior Service Club. I want to join with the members of this House in congratulating the members of the Collinsville Junior Service Club on celebrating their 75th anniversary and thank them for their service. I want to wish them another 75 years of continued success.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Judge Dorothy Spomer, who broke barriers as she served on the bench in Southern Illinois. Judge Spomer was recently honored at Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Inpiring Women Gala. Judge Spomer graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1943, at the age of 22. Throughout her historic career, she set an example for other young women as the first female judge in Alexander County, the first female circuit judge in the First Judicial Circuit and the first woman to sit on the appellate court in the Fifth District. A dedicated public servant, Judge Spomer came out of retirement in 1977, when Illinois Supreme Court Justice Joseph Goldenhersch called on her to serve on the appellate court in Mount Vernon. Judge Spomer's example inspired her son, Judge Stephen Spomer, to carry on the proud famiy tradition of public service as he presides over the same Fifth District Appellate Court. I would like to join Southern Illinois University Carbondale, as they honor her at their Inspiring Women Gala, in thanking Judge Dorothy Spomer for her lifelong service to Southern Illinois.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a century of service from an institution of healing in Centralia, Illinois. St. Mary's Hospital opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1909 and has been serving the Centralia area since. As the city grew, the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ and the Felician Sisters worked to meet the medical needs of the growing population. In 1958, the hospital moved to a new 117-bed facility on Pleasant Avenue, where it went through 3 expansions 1969 to 1981. In 1996, St. Mary's Hospital merged with Good Samaritan Regional Health Center in nearby Mt. Vernon. With the merger, they entered the 21st Century at the forefront of medical care. Over the last 100 years, the people at St. Mary's have not forgotten their core mission and have served our community with a level of devotion that is second to none. I want to join with the members of this House and the residents of South Central Illinois in congratulating St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital on celebrating its centennial. I want to thank them for their healing ministry and to wish them continued success for the next hundred years.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the achievements of an outstanding group of student-athletes from Springfield, Illinois. The Springfield Senators girls cross country team took the state championship at this year's Illinois High School Association state finals November 7 at Detweiller Park in Peoria. Springfield High finished with a score of 124, six better than the runners-up from Yorkville. The Senators were led by Kirby Hale, who had the fourth-best overall time for the tournament, finishing in 17:51. I want to congratulate Coach Dan Devlin, Assistant Coach Trae Cotner and the members of the 2009 Springfield Senators state champion cross country team: Kirby Hale, Madie Alexander, Maggie Cornelius, Christy Rolf, Jessica Larson, Leora Reyhan, Sarah Ward, Giuliana Bailey, Christina Kropid, Julia McClure, Erin Shultz and Lauren Smith. They have represented themselves, their school and our community in a first- rate fashion. I want to join with my colleagues in this House in wishing them continued success in their future academic and athletic endeavors.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the men and women of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2055 in Centralia, Illinois, as they celebrate their 75th anniversary on December 18. Post 2055 began in a renovated church in 1934 and was followed a year later by the chartering of the local VFW Ladies Auxiliary. The post has grown from its original membership of 56 to a high of more than 600 members. The men and women of the Centralia VFW post have continued to serve their community and our nation long after their terms of active duty military service have ended. Post 2055 members assemble and send care packages to service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. Members of VFW Post 2055 are dedicated to serving their community. They regularly volunteer at the local Veterans Administration hospital, teach firearms safety courses and participate in cancer research fundraisers. I would like to thank the men and women of VFW Post 2055 in Centralia, Illinois, for their service to our nation, their continued support of America's soldiers and their dedication to their community.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. I would encourage you to keep up the great work. Thank you for letting me join you.

Mr. SHIMKUS. We rely on jobs and our environment on cheap energy. And as you know I'm from the coalfields of southern Illinois, and I spent this whole year and last year fighting for our coal reserves and the importance of that. And I usually bring another poster of miners who lost their jobs during the last cycle, 1,200 miners in one mine. The State of Ohio lost 35,000 coal miner jobs. That is just a fraction of what we will see in this country if we roll back the carbon emissions, and if they could prove it, but they can't.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Carbon dioxide is not a toxic emission. And that is what Administrator Jackson just said.

Mr. SHIMKUS. I will yield.

Mr. SHIMKUS. I believe that those who seek taxpayer dollars--we know here that agencies and programs never go away. If that's why they're not providing the data, that's why they're hiding the fact of the last decade--can you imagine us in this environment of trying to get control of the deficit and the debt, and we're spending billions of dollars to scientists who are not using the scientific method?

Mr. SHIMKUS. They are the foremost promoters of the theory. And there's the followup. Are they receiving taxpayer dollars to promote this theory through the IPCC, which is the U.N. International Panel on Climate Change, or Virginia.edu, and you could speculate that there are DOE grants, EPA money, going. And another thing, these scientists are for hire. They're for hire.

Mr. SHIMKUS. 12 October, 2009, at 8:57.

Mr. SHIMKUS. As of 2 months ago, we can't account for the lack of warming. There's two things here. First of all, they say we can't account for the lack of warming. So their background research, he is already trying to skew the research. And he has an emotional response: ``It's a shame. I'm saddened.'' Scientists shouldn't be emotionally attached to the data. This is the data. Let's test it. What we would encourage our friends on the other side to say is, in a bipartisan manner, let's get the facts on the table, and let's get the scientists to look at the facts. The facts are being hidden. That is sad. One is they don't have the facts; two is he's emotionally distraught because his hypotheses cannot be proven. Here's another one to the ranking member. ``I can't see either of these papers being in the next International Panel on Climate Change report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow--even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is.'' Here's another process on the scientific message. Analyze the results. Draw conclusions. They have got some--they've done some analysis that doesn't support it. So are they going to add that in a scientific objective fashion, say, This is what we believe, but there are some who disagree--they say that the facts don't speak for the hypotheses? No. These scientists say, We're going to bury it. We're going to hide it. We don't want the public to know. Can you imagine scientists doing that? Again, the scientific community is one of the most respected communities because they go by the scientific method. Here they admit that they're going to keep the analyses out of the report--two analyses that contradict what they want their hypothesis to be.

Mr. SHIMKUS. That is correct.

Mr. SHIMKUS. So, yes, they're on the dole. They want to keep their jobs so they're continuing to promote and deceive the public. I don't know. I would say it's pretty damaging to their name, to the community, and also to the taxpayers. Now, if I may, I have one more that I'd like to share. And there are tons. I mean, these are just a small sampling. The ones I picked out I kind of wanted to address the scientific method. Again, as an engineer, give us the facts, give us the data, test the data, prove if it's right or wrong. If it's wrong, get an analysis, and then maybe try again. Retest it. Let's retest the data point. Here is another one: I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years, i.e. from 1981 onwards, 20 years, for Keith to hide the decline. So now, not only are they not providing the data, they are keeping the analysis from being reported in the IPCC report, and they are jimmying the numbers. They are actually using tricks. These are scientists. Now, we are politicians. I think people would have some skepticism. We don't claim to be--you claim to be an engineer; I went to engineering school. I understand it, but if you were building a bridge, or if you were designing a building, and you jimmied the numbers on the tensile strength of the steel, you would be in real trouble because the design would be faulty, and the building would collapse. Their design, Administrator Jackson's design to remake the United States is on faulty data. It is on data that has been jimmied. And this house of cards will collapse, and it will be jobs in the wake on faulty data. Now, bring us real data. Go through the scientific method. Test it, but don't hide it. Don't trick us. Don't deceive us. Don't discourage your profession of scientists by staying on the public dole to receive taxpayer money to continue to promote a fraud, a fraud on the American public. So that's why I real appreciate, Congressman Barton, that you've taken this time to help address this. There's a lot of education. And this education has to go on now because they are going to be making decisions in Copenhagen. They are going to try to bind us to stuff on faulty data.

Mr. SHIMKUS. You bet they are. The International Panel on Climate Change, they are the U.N. designees to continue to provide the information to the folks who attend the conference upon which they make the decisions.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Our lifestyle would be dramatically different.

Mr. SHIMKUS. He is the person who just resigned.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Barton. I think what is important, Mr. Barton, was your focus on science and your focus on data points and what we should be able to do in the Chamber in a bipartisan manner is to agree on the data points. We should be able to agree on what the science is, and that's in question. And for many of us it has been in question for a long time. We're joined by John Linder who's been following this as long as anyone else has, and part of his search has been because the scientists would not give the data. They would never tell us what's the base by which they're making this extrapolation. And so I'm glad that you highlighted the scientific method that I didn't get on the chart but I brought down here. It's very simple. I taught high school. You're an engineer. I went to an engineering school. This is irrefutable. This is how science is done. You ask questions. You do background research. Background research in this debate would be to get the temperatures. We're already questioning the background research, one, based upon the request from the Freedom of Information Act, and of course now our friends at the IPCC are saying, We don't have them. The dog ate the homework. It is amazing. Scientists are really some of the most respected professionals. But they're respected because of this, this process, which should be objective. You should be able to follow it. You should be able to construct a hypothesis. The hypothesis is an educated guess. That is all it is. It's not truth. It's a guess based upon the data points. And then you are--then you're to test it. And then you analyze the result and then draw your conclusions. Based upon the scientific method, you can categorically say right now that those who say the science that solves are in error. The science does not solve. That is why all of this political activity is going on right now. That is why now the EPA administrator is saying, We're going to do endangerment findings. They want to do it before we are able to educate the public that the science is not solid. And they are not providing us with the data points, they're not complying with Freedom of Information Act requests. And so this process is skewed. So when they tested it, they found out that the results didn't match their educated guess. And what did they do? These scientists are politicians. They went into--we call it in the military they went and holed up. They lowered the turrets; they got under ground. Don't ask questions. And here are some of the emails, in essence, to prove that. Here's the first one. ``The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment, and it is a travesty that we can't.''

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition because this bill's main intent is government control of health care.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I think it spoke volumes that my friend, John Dingell, chaired the rule. John Dingell has always been a single- payer advocate. That speaks volumes to what the real intent of this bill is. The goal of this legislation has been clear: to pass a public option that will serve as a gateway to a single-payer, government-controlled system. Don't trust me; ask my friend, Jan Schakowsky, or ask Chairman Barney Frank. Or believe President Obama who said, ``I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer health care program. But I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately.'' Make no mistake, this bill will achieve the single-payer goal. And along with it, it will raise premiums, increase taxes, cuts billions of dollars from Medicare, and cost millions of working Americans their job. And at the end, a single-payer system will force every American into a one-size-fits-all system that rations care. A government that rations care is anti-life.