John Shimkus

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Marty Davis of Taylorville, Illinois who is celebrating his 50th anniversary as a member of the McDonald's family. Marty Davis began his career in 1959 at age sixteen in one of the first McDonald's in the nation located in Des Moines, Iowa. Marty worked as a crew member making hamburgers and French fries just like any other teenager, but Marty continued his career in McDonald's. He worked as a manager in a local store and was eventually promoted to an area supervisor for the local operator in Des Moines. In 1977, Marty was offered the chance to own his own McDonald's franchise and moved to Taylorville. Marty has never looked back and now owns and operates McDonald's franchises in Pana, Vandalia, Shelbyville, and Taylorville, Illinois. As a small business owner in my congressional district, Marty has not forgotten his community. His local stores are active in many local charitable organizations. His stores traditionally place at the top in the Nation during the local annual Ronal McDonald House Charities ``Give a Little Love'' heart campaign. This placement is a testament to Marty's willingness to put money back into our communities to help those most in need. Marty was recently honored by McDonald's when he was able to throw out the first pitch during a game between my beloved St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, June 1, 2009. As an avid Cardinal fan like me, this opportunity in honor of his 50 years in the McDonald's family was a wonderful surprise to Marty. While I do not blame him for the Cardinals loss that evening, I sure hope that in a few weeks, I throw much better pitches to the Democrats than Marty delivered that night! Marty Davis has served Central Illinois as a small businessman, community leader, and my friend, and I wish him a very happy 50th anniversary as a member of the McDonald's Family.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to note the final service of the Springer Community Church in Dix, Illinois. For 85 years, the Springer Community Church has been an important part of the Jefferson County community. In the 1920s, with transportation sparse, the church was founded in the old Springer schoolhouse so that local children in the surrounding area would have a place to attend Sunday School. It was 1946 when the church had a building of its own, about a half mile away. Over time, Springer Community Church became known as ``the little pink church,'' and it was truly a community project. The building was constructed on donated land from the material of an old store which was being torn down in a neighboring town. Members of the community built the church, and put additions onto it in the 1950s and 1970s. It was served by missionaries from the American Missionary Fellowship. Over the decades it became a place for generations of local community members to come together and worship. Sadly, the building fell into disrepair, and last weekend, the little pink church held its last service, a Remembrance Service, to allow members to gather together and celebrate the church's history. Amidst the sadness of seeing such an important institution close its doors, the church treasurer, Carole Barton, exemplified the perseverance that has carried Springer through these last 85 years, telling the Mt. Vernon Register-News, ``we hope some day we can get organized and put in another church.'' I join with my colleagues in the House in wishing the Springer Community Church family all the best, as they seek a new location from which to continue the important work which they have done so well.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to mark the sesquicentennial of the historic village of Sandoval, Illinois. Sandoval is a small community fifty miles east of East St. Louis, in Marion County, Illinois. Settled in 1823 by Thomas Deadmond, the area is believed to have been named after the proprietor of a trading post that passed through the town. Sandoval was officially incorporated on February 18, 1859, and the village is currently celebrating its 150th birthday. Sandoval played an important role in the Civil War. The Illinois Central railroad passes directly through the town, making it a strategic staging point for Union soldiers on their way to battle. Since the conclusion of the war, Sandoval has continued to grow and prosper through the dedication of its citizens. From the village's founding to its flourishing community today, Sandoval has a rich culture of hard work and entrepreneurship. In 1877, the St. Louis and Sandoval Mining Company opened Sandoval's first coal mine, soon to be followed by the Zinc Company in 1897. As Sandoval moved through the twentieth century, the community has prospered in many of its industries including: oil production, agriculture, and manufacturing. It has proven itself to be an enduring village that the State of Illinois as well as the country should be proud of. I would like to congratulate Mayor Ron Kretzer, as well as all of the citizens of Sandoval, who continue to make their town a community worth celebrating.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the centennial of an important landmark in Edwardsville, Illinois. The Wildey Theater first opened its doors in 1909 at 250-254 Main Street in Edwardsville. Originally a three-story opera house and meeting hall, the Wildey soon began hosting silent films and live productions. In 1927 it presented ``The Jazz Singer,'' the first motion picture to include sound. For the next few decades, the Wildey Theater was the most popular location for entertainment in Edwardsville. Unfortunately, in 1998 the Wildey could no longer stay at it and was forced to close its doors. The City of Edwardsville purchased the building and began renovating the historic theater. With the benevolent actions from the citizens of Edwardsville the Wildey is being restored to its earlier grandeur. Last month, it celebrated its 100th birthday with an outdoor showing of ``The Wizard of Oz.'' I want to congratulate Alderman Rich Walker, chairman of the Wildey Theater's development committee, and the citizens of Edwardsville who have put countless hours and made generous contributions to this historic landmark. I look forward to visiting a restored Wildey Theater as it begins its second century as a gathering place in Edwardsville.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. The national energy tax has moved its way out of the Energy and Commerce Committee. It's called the cap-and-trade, and what it means is everyone pays more for the use of fossil fuels. This is what happened in Illinois when we passed the last Clean Air Act amendments; 14,000 miners lost their jobs. In the State of Ohio, 35,000 miners lost their jobs. What is the solution? An all-of-the-above energy policy that talks about the Outer Continental Shelf, brings on energy from coal, does renewable coal, does renewable wind and solar and renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. We can produce the energy needs for this country right here in this country. The national energy tax, this cap-and-trade shell game, will not do it. It will only destroy this country.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. We are right around 10 percent.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you. I appreciate the time. As stated, we're in the, in essence, the markup of the bill right now. And so I thought I'd just take a few minutes to talk about what happened yesterday and what's happening today. The basic premise that we're trying to just remind the public that because to address this global warming you have to monetize carbon, that is, in essence, adding a dollar amount to carbon, which that dollar amount would be passed on. Ratepayers will pay more. President Obama admits it. Really, the draft bill admits it because there's 55 pages of what to do with job losses in the bill. Here's a couple of amendments that we debated last week--I mean yesterday. An amendment offered by Lee Terry, Republican, of Nebraska, would require annual EPA certification of the average retail price of gasoline. If the price exceeds $5 per gallon as a result of this act, this act would cease to be effective. We're admitting that there will be an increase in cost. Voted down on a party-line vote.

Mr. SHIMKUS. And I am going to head back to the committee and I appreciate the time. Let me just say we also had an amendment: will global warming bills' costs be disclosed. We asked for full disclosure on electricity bills. Republicans said, yeah, that's a good idea. Democrats voted ``no.'' Democrats declined to shield homeowners from electricity spike hikes. So what we're trying to do is, understanding that this is going to cause an increased cost to the ratepayer, no one's speaking for the ratepayers. Well, the Republicans are speaking to the ratepayer. The Democrats in the committee markup are speaking to those special interest groups that cut this deal behind closed doors. You've got a lot of my colleagues here who all want to speak with you. I appreciate your yielding me some time. Keep up the great fight.

Mr. SHIMKUS. That is correct. Another amendment offered by our colleague, Mike Rogers, Republican, from Michigan, that would require an annual certification by the administrator in consultation with the Department of State and the United States Trade Representative that China and India have adopted a mandatory greenhouse gas reduction program at least as stringent as that would be imposed under this act. And what we're saying is this is all pain and no gain unless we have an international agreement that brings in China and India. Well, my colleagues on the other side all voted ``no'' against requiring China and India to be under the same regime. Republicans all voted that we should be in the same regime. Another amendment that said if unemployment gets to 15 percent, that we ought to change course, that this cap-and-trade scheme is not working. Another party-line vote, Republicans saying we ought to get out of this agreement if job loss gets to 15 percent. Democrats stayed on the party line saying, no, 15 percent job loss is acceptable under this bill.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to note the 125th anniversary of Oakwood Cemetery in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Since Oakwood's formal recognition in 1883, concerned local citizens have worked tirelessly to ensure that those in the community who have left this life have a peaceful and dignified final resting place. This Memorial Day, the hard-working staff, which does so much to maintain Oakwood, will welcome area residents to the annual Memorial Day Weekend Drive-Thru. Local citizens can visit the resting places of such prominent citizens as the city's first mayor, James Pace, Civil War Generals C.W. Pavey and W.B. Anderson, and Illinois Governor L.L. Emmerson. Over the decades, local residents have put great efforts in creating a beautiful and serene final resting place. According to its official history, the cemetery has over 9,000 markers spread along five miles of roads. The groundskeepers mow an average of 35 times per year, totaling 1,600 acres. I want to salute the board members and staff members, past and present, of the Oakwood Cemetery in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, for the important work that they have done for 125 years.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, a picture is worth a thousand words. And this ran in the Wall Street Journal: ``The U.S. recovery: Uncle Sam throwing a lifeline out''. And what is it? It is an anvil of a tax. This signifies what is happening on this cap-and-tax proposal. A 44 percent to a 129 percent increase in electricity costs, gasoline up 61 cents, natural gas up 108 percent. Don't believe me? Believe Chairman Emeritus John Dingell, who said, ``Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax, and it's a very big one.'' Also, President Obama, who said, ``Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity costs would necessarily skyrocket.'' A tax increase is the wrong medicine for an ailing economy.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, it looks like the Energy and Commerce Committee is moving forward in addressing and moving on the cap-and-tax bill. And I'm coming to the floor to just talk about the real-world implications of what this bill might do. The basic premise is this: carbon fuels are bad, whether that is coal or whether that is petroleum crude oil. And because it is bad, we are going to have to monetize it, which means put additional cost on that to decrease people's use of that fuel. There are problems with that premise. We went through the last Clean Air Act amendments in 1990 in the State of Illinois. In the Midwest particularly there were a great deal of problems. This is a picture of miners from the Peabody No. 10 mine in Kincaid, Illinois. They were part of the 14,000 United Mine Workers that lost their jobs in the last Clean Air Act amendments. At this one mine location, over 1,200 miners lost their jobs, and that has caused a devastating effect in southern Illinois. Now, Illinois wasn't the only State affected. I always like to highlight the State of Ohio. The State of Ohio lost 35,000 mine worker jobs in the last Clean Air Act amendments--35,000 people. And that is not just individuals. That means that affects their families, the small rural communities in which they reside, the tax base for the school districts, the spin-off effects of folks having good-paying jobs averaging from 50 to $70,000 a year with benefits, gone. This is an editorial in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. They used this picture. Again, a picture paints a thousand words. We know that the economy is struggling today. So this identifies ``Ship USS Recovery'' with Uncle Sam. You would think that Uncle Sam would want to help lift this economy up by throwing a lifesaver to the people who need it and create jobs. Well, Uncle Sam is doing it, but he's showing an anvil which is listed as a big tax to the drowning citizens. Now, we all may chuckle with this, but that is exactly what the cap-and-tax, cap-and-trade bill will do. And you don't have to take my word for it. Take the word of someone highly respected, the dean of the House, Chairman Emeritus John Dingell, who said this in a committee hearing just 2 weeks ago, ``Nobody in this country realizes that cap-and-trade is a tax, and it's a great big one.'' If you don't want to take his word for it, take the word of now President Barack Obama, who was quoted as saying, ``Under my plan of the cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.'' Now, that's real money to real citizens, citizens like these folks right now who are drowning in the inability to either make their own payments or for the manufacturing sector of our society to compete today. What we fear, if the Democrats are successful, is that we have a hard time competing in the manufacturing sector around the world. We usually are able to compete because of low-cost power and a very efficient manufacturing sector. We can't compete on wages. We can't compete on environmental restrictions of sovereign nations. So if we take another variable off the table of how we can compete, what will happen is this: We will drive more manufacturing companies offshore to countries that aren't going to comply with monetizing carbon. Who are these countries? China, India, who have stated over and over again they don't care what the United States is going to do, they are going to continue to build, in the case of China, one new coal-fired power plant every 10 days. What we could do is we could go all the way down to zero and the world's carbon dioxide emissions are going to increase.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, you can be assured of a couple things: The global warming bill reportedly that will be taken up next week in the Energy and Commerce Committee will raise energy costs and create massive job losses. How do I know this? It happened in southern Illinois in 1992, where we lost 14,000 coal miner jobs. The State of Ohio lost 35,000 coal miner jobs. Why in the world in this economy would we make it more difficult to compete in the international arena by raising energy costs? I hope my Democratic friends are ready to answer that question.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to mourn the passing of an American hero. Russell Dunham passed away on April 6, 2009, at his home in Jerseyville, Illinois. He is survived by his daughter, Mary Lee Neal and her husband Kerry, his stepdaughter Annette Wilson and her husband Glenn, and his stepson, David Bazzell. Mr. Dunham had three grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, three brothers and three sisters. Today they have my condolences, those of this House and those of a grateful nation. He was preceded in death by his wife, Wilda, two granddaughters, five brothers and two sisters. Mr. Dunham served our nation in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, part of General Patton's Third Army during World War II. In January 1945, near Kayserberg, France, Technical Sergeant Dunham single- handedly silenced three German machine guns. Leading his platoon forward through the snow, Sergeant Dunham raced 75 yards through heavy fire to assault a well-emplaced enemy position. Attacking the first gun, Sergeant Dunham was seriously wounded by machine gun fire, but he kept up his assault, silencing first one, then another, and then the third and final enemy emplacement, using his 175 rounds from his carbine and 11 grenades. Despite his wounds, Sergeant Dunham kept moving forward from one position to the next, risking his life above and beyond the call of duty. For his ``conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity,'' Technical Sergeant Russell Dunham, earned the Medal of Honor from the grateful nation he helped to save. After the war, Mr. Dunham spent more than three decades helping area veterans through his work with the Department of Veterans Affairs. He raised a family, and was an active member of the VFW and AMVETS. He will be dearly missed by his family and his community, and his service and sacrifice will continue to earn the gratitude of all Americans.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an exceptional group of young ladies from Breese, Illinois. The All Saints Academy 8th grade girls volleyball team dominated this year's Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Association's Class M state tournament, sweeping through the field to earn the state title. Competing against some of the top teams in Southern Illinois, the ASA team won all three matches in straight sets, knocking off Goreville in the quarterfinals and Pinckneyville in the semifinals, then defeating St. Peter/Paul for the title. The trophy-clinching win was a thrilling 25-22 squeaker. I want to congratulate Coaches Tricia Winter and Don Bedard on this year's success. I especially want to congratulate the members of the state championship volleyball team from All Saints Academy: Jade Beckmann, Rachel Boeckmann, Chelsea Crocker, Julie Deiters, Holland Hempen, Haley Johnson, Bailey Kampwerth, Merideth Kloeckner, Abby Luebbers, Maddie Mensing, Shannon Mensing, Jessica Peters, Gabrielle Schnieder, Kari Wiegmann and Megan Zurliene. They have achieved great things for their school and their community, and I want to wish them all the best in the future, both on the court and in the classroom.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an exceptional group of young ladies from Clinton County, Illinois. The St. Rose Lady Wildcats volleyball team captured the Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Association Class S state tournament, defeating the squad from Lick Creek in straight sets. St. Rose swept through the tournament, not losing a single set on the way to the title. They knocked off Ewing in the opener and Centralia Trinity Lutheran in the second round, going on a 15-0 tear to come from behind and win game one. I want to congratulate coaches Colette Huelsmann and Brian Holtgrave on leading this group of young ladies to this victory. Most of all, I want to congratulate the members of the state champion St. Rose Lady Wildcats: Abby Holtgrave, Amanda Gall, Brooke Buehne, Erika VonBokel, Lauren Willis, Ellie Detmer, Elizabeth Marcus, Lydia Rehkemper, Larissa Jacob, Maddie Timmermann, Avoynna Kampwerth and Jamie Voss. These young ladies have represented themselves, their school and their community in an exemplary fashion, and I congratulate them, and wish them all the best for continued success in the classroom and on the court.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, it is great to have this opportunity to come down to the floor once again to get the floor and the country ready for the debate on global warming. And I just want to put a couple of things in perspective. What the whole global warming bill intends to do is to monetize, which means put a cost, for carbon emissions. Now everyone knows that when you add a cost, it will be passed on, so hence the debate that we have been dealing with in the committee over the last couple weeks about raising energy costs. And it has mostly been on the premise of monetizing carbon, either by putting on a carbon tax, or monetizing carbon through what is called a cap-and-trade regime where you have marketeers purchase carbon credits. That is only one aspect of the rise of energy costs, because we do know that the producers will pass that on to the end users. And who are the end users? That is us. That is individual consumers, that is manufacturing, that is the service sector and that is the government. It will be passed back on to us in higher costs for us. There are other additional costs involved in this whole program, in this whole plan. And the other aspect of costs is the energy it will take for utilities to capture carbon dioxide. At a power plant that is being built that I just visited, 40 percent of the electricity that it was going to sell on the open market would now go internally to try to capture the carbon. So if they were going to sell 1600 megawatts of power, now they are only going to be able to sell about 950 megawatts of power because they are going to have to internally use that. Now if they have done the investment, doing a cost-benefit analysis and return on that, not only will they have less power to sell on the market if the demand is the same, the supply is less and the cost will go up. But they will also have to have a second cost increase, which will be buying the carbon credits. Now those are two areas by which electricity costs will increase. Well there is another area where electricity costs will increase because we are going to push an efficiency standard on utilities, which is another aspect that they are going to have to make major capital investments. So we have three times a burden on utilities, which they will pass on to the consumer. Now, the concern many of us have, if we want to maintain our jobs and we want to maintain our competitive force in the world economy, we have to have low-cost power. The other thing that is really hard to understand is why would we unilaterally raise the cost to produce goods and services when the major emitters of the world today will not be forced to comply. Here is a chart of the important transmissions and emitting countries. It would surprise a lot of people to notice here at the bottom is the United States. We have had very little growth in emissions. Where has all of the growth come: Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Southeast Asia, India, China, Korea, Eastern Europe. This is the increase in the emissions. So as we come to this debate if we just want to be straightforward, we are going to say if we are going to enforce all this pain on the U.S. economy at a time when this economy really can't accept the pain because of the job losses, shouldn't we have some gain? The reality is we could stop our carbon emissions today and put it to zero. And what will happen to worldwide carbon emissions? They will go up. We could go to zero. They would go up. That is no way to address a problem. We have declining carbon emissions in our economy today, and the reason why we have it is because of the recession we are facing. So job loss, manufacturing loss creates lower emissions which is what my friends on the other side of the aisle would like to see. We are going to fight to defeat it.

Mr. SHIMKUS

Mr. SHIMKUS. I thank my colleague, and I appreciate him coming down. I am going to turn quickly to my colleague from Tennessee, Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, for such time as she may consume.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Dr. Fleming, for joining us. Now I'm pleased to be joined by the ranking member of our Agriculture Committee from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Ranking Member Goodlatte, thanks for joining us.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Would the gentleman yield on coal just for a second? I think this is an important issue, of course, for me. But a couple of recent occurrences highlight the fact that this bill really is an assault on coal. And however they try to clean it up, it is not working. Yesterday in the local paper, what did Speaker Pelosi do? She said the coal-fire power plant here in the Capitol is now switching to natural gas, that coal is gone. At a news conference briefing held last week at the United States Energy Association, FERC Chairman Wellinghoff told reporters that nuclear and coal power was too expensive. He estimated the cost of building a nuclear plant at about $7,000 per kilowatt and discouraged investors from undertaking such ventures. So the signals are no nuclear and no coal.

Mr. SHIMKUS. They don't like coal. They don't like hydro. But don't like nuclear. But they like electricity.

Mr. SHIMKUS. Here is the President's comments.

Mr. SHIMKUS. I appreciate my colleague joining me. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SHIMKUS. I appreciate my colleagues--all my colleagues--for coming down here tonight. In fact, I didn't have to spend much time, we had so many people involved. I think it shows the concern of this debate. One of our new Members recently elected--and when you are elected out of cycle, you get a chance to get sworn in and speak here. And he actually had one of the best speeches I have ever heard. In fact, I wrote it down to a point that I wanted to highlight his comments. He said, ``It is a humbling experience to take a job when people back home are losing theirs, and become a member of this House when people are losing theirs.'' It made me appreciate the great honor that the people of southern Illinois have bestowed on me to come here and represent them. How dare I come here and cast votes that would cause them to lose their jobs in even greater numbers. I am here to protect their jobs. Why am I so impassioned? In the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, this mine, Peabody No. 10 in Kincaid, Illinois, closed. Twelve hundred jobs were lost in just one mine. Fourteen thousand in southern Illinois. The Special Order before this had a lot of members from Ohio, and one of them mentioned Bob and Betty Buckeye, which I thought was cute. Ohio lost 35,000 coal mine jobs. Ohio. About 92 percent of their energy portfolio is coal. If you follow President Obama's quotes and you follow the FERC chairman and you follow the bill, this is an assault on every State that relies on coal-fired power and the miners that get that coal from the ground. We will have a chance to talk, debate, offer amendments to make sure that these jobs are protected, and then when my colleague makes a comment, ``it is humbling to be given a job when people are losing theirs,'' we best be about the business of protecting the jobs of our constituents. And this cap-and-tax, this national energy tax, will destroy jobs; and that is what we are here to fight. I see my colleague is here. I have 1 minute left, and I recognize the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. SHIMKUS. I appreciate my colleague from Georgia. Georgia has some significant challenges on the renewable electricity standard that they are trying to cram down, which will definitely increase rates in the Southeast. We need you in the fight--and we are glad you are here. I would now like to turn to my other colleague and friend, also from the Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Steve Scalise from Louisiana.