[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 117 (Thursday, August 2, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5697-H5700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING AMERICA AND THE WORLD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Shimkus) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time yielded to me to 
really cover a couple different issues and areas that have been pending 
either in the District or in our Nation--or even internationally--and 
using this opportunity to place into the Record and also speak to you--
in essence, speaking to the Nation--on the importance of these issues.

                              {time}  1930

  First what I would like to do is really commend Chairman Lucas and 
Ranking Member Peterson for passing an ag bill out of their committee.
  Now, what my producers are asking is to pass a full ag bill on the 
floor sooner rather than later. In fact, I've seen, and I'm sure you've 
seen, an ag bill now. But we were successful today in helping mitigate 
a flaw in the last ag bill in ensuring that the livestock provisions 
and the insurance portion of the ag bill of 5 years ago, it wasn't 
funded for this last year.
  As everyone knows, this is a very challenging year for the 
agricultural sector. I was able to visit a dairy farm in my district 
last Friday, the Timmerman family, and there I was able to meet with my 
producers, both commodity, livestock and dairy, and in my part of the 
State, sometimes they are doing all of the above.
  So I brought down--actually, they brought to me and I brought back to 
Washington to give an example of the challenges we're under. Here is a 
good ear of corn that has been irrigated and is what we would expect to 
see almost every year in southern Illinois. This was what came off of a 
stalk on the Timmerman dairy farm. And so this gives you, Mr. Speaker, 
an opportunity to understand the challenges that are faced.
  Now, in a dairy operation, like a beef operation, they're growing the 
corn to feed their livestock. So if this is what's supposed to feed 
their livestock, they're used to getting this, you can understand why 
passing this disaster relief portion to fully fund the ag bill to help 
them out is very, very important.
  Another producer brought this, which is the stalk and even a worse--
well, it's not even an ear of corn. It's decayed, it hasn't formed, and 
that's what a lot of our producers are seeing in Illinois during this 
time.
  Now, our agriculture producers are a healthy stock, and they 
understand that the world is changing and that there are spending and 
fiscal challenges and difficulties. They're asking for a simple 
premise. They just want to be able to have an ag insurance product that 
they can rely on, that they can choose to buy into or not. They don't 
want to be placed in a position of having no ag insurance and then 
depending upon if there's a drought on disaster

[[Page H5698]]

payments from the national government, as has happened in the past 
before we really had a safety net and an ag insurance program and plan.
  They know that other provisions of the ag bill are going by the 
wayside. They know that direct payments are going to go by the wayside. 
So they are just very concerned, as they should be, that this is the 
end of the authorization of a current farm bill. The important thing is 
to get the next farm bill reauthorized so that, when they start buying 
the seed and planning which field they're going to plant what crop, 
they can then make a decision whether they want to insure that crop, 
and they will have some expectation that if they have another bad year 
they will at least be able to survive to the next year.
  Giving a last story about my ag producers, I was up in another part 
of central Illinois. I was talking to one of the producers, and he 
projected--and I didn't know for sure that his loss of his crop was 
about $400,000, which is a pretty big loss. With ag insurance, his loss 
is only going to be $200,000.
  Now, I know you, Mr. Speaker, come from a business background, but I 
think it's very important to let the American public know that these 
producers are still going to have a loss even with an ag insurance 
product out there. They're not going to make them whole. But what they 
will do is allow them to give it another go the next year and get back 
into the field. That's the importance of an ag bill.
  Again, I really salute Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson, 
and I look forward to talking to my colleagues on the importance of 
having an ag bill, a long ag bill, a 5-year ag bill, so that our 
producers have some certainty when, as this year has shown, there could 
be uncertain times that they are powerless to control. If there were a 
private sector option, maybe we could have that debate of whether there 
should be ag insurance at all.
  But the reality is the only insurance product available is that in 
which the Federal Government will help offset some of the cost, let the 
producers have some skin in the game, and then let's manage these risks 
so that we could still have the safest, least expensive food supply in 
the world.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm going to turn my attention now to some problem 
statements coming out from the majority leader of the other body, Mr. 
Reid, on a commissioner of the United States Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission. I pulled from the Web site the values statement and the 
principles of good regulation which is on the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission site. And one of the first things on here, it says:

       Independence: Nothing but the highest possible standards of 
     ethical performance and professionalism should influence 
     regulation.

  Now, as we have learned from press reports on Monday, Senate Majority 
Leader Harry Reid got angry, and for once, it wasn't directed at 
Republicans. He directed his tirade at Bill Magwood, a commissioner at 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
  Why did he focus such venom and energy at a little known public 
official at an independent agency? He thought he had successfully 
strong-armed an independent commissioner to vote the way he wanted to. 
In fact, the majority leader is acting--we all hate bullies, Mr. 
Speaker, and to have the majority leader of the Senate be a bully to a 
commissioner duly appointed being independent is egregious.
  According to one article:

       Reid said he was assured by Pete Rouse, a senior White 
     House official, that Magwood would also oppose Yucca.

  Now, Reid thinks Magwood worked against the effort to shut down 
Yucca. For that, Reid says Magwood is ``one of the most unethical, 
prevaricating, incompetent people I've ever dealt with.''
  Now, this is the majority leader of the Senate besmirching a duly 
appointed commissioner confirmed by the Senate because the leader of 
the Senate has believed he had this person's vote versus the principles 
of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Nothing but the 
highest possible standards of ethical performance and professionalism 
should influence regulation.
  Magwood unethical? I think the majority leader has got it backwards. 
Isn't it unethical for Members of Congress to pressure government 
officials to vote a certain way on adjudications? Now Senator Reid is 
on a tirade because he thinks his intimidation wasn't successful in 
convincing Commissioner Magwood to ignore the law.
  Senator Reid wasn't embarrassed, though. He threw a party for his 
former employee, who is now the ex-commissioner. That's the kind of 
behavior that the public has had concerns with. This is publicly 
documented in the record. These are quotes by the majority leader of 
the Senate. It's not debatable that Commissioner Magwood is a duly 
appointed and confirmed commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission confirmed by the Senate and appointed by the President.
  Mr. Speaker, now I will go to the other part.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will remind Members to refrain 
from engaging in personalities toward the Senate or its Members.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I will just read the Senator's quote that's 
quoted in the story:

       Reid said he was assured by Pete Rouse, a senior White 
     House official, that Magwood would also oppose Yucca. ``I met 
     with him because Pete Rouse asked me to meet with him. I 
     said, `Is he okay on Yucca Mountain?' Pete said, `Yeah.' ''

                              {time}  1940

  The story continues:

       Reid said that Magwood's behind-the-scenes maneuvering was 
     unforgivable. ``He's a first-class rat. He lied to Rouse, he 
     lied to me, and he had a plan.''

  Mr. Speaker, I'm not making this up. This is quotes. I'm not assuming 
what the majority leader's intentions were. I'm just reading quotes in 
a recently published newspaper about the majority leader of the 
Senate's position to a duly appointed and confirmed member of an 
independent regulatory commission. I think the leader owes Commissioner 
Magwood an apology.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, as I said in my opening comments, this gives 
me an opportunity to cover farm bill issues, national nuclear 
regulatory issues, some international issues.
  I've been concerned about democracy in Eastern European countries for 
many years, so let me come to the floor to you to talk about Ukraine 
and the former Prime Minister. Ms. Tymoshenko continues to serve a 7-
year sentence in Kharkiv, while being prosecuted in multiple criminal 
cases amid international outcry from the United States and the European 
Union.
  The trial against Ms. Tymoshenko in the gas case was described as 
``selective justice'' and ``political persecution'' in statements by 
the U.S. and the EU. The court found Ms. Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of 
her power, sentenced her to 7 years in prison, and ordered her to pay 
the state 188 million.
  On October 24, 2011, Ms. Tymoshenko filed an appeal against the 
sentence, which was rejected on December 23, 2011. On December 30, 
2011, Ms. Tymoshenko was transferred to a penal colony in Kharkiv, 
where her health has significantly deteriorated. The doctors who were 
allowed to examine her this past February stated that she was ill, in 
constant pain, and required significant care.
  Ms. Tymoshenko went on a hunger strike from April 20 to May 9 in 
protest of what has happened to Ukrainian democracy and what is 
happening to her in prison.
  I support my colleague, Chris Smith's resolution, House Resolution 
730, calling on Ukrainian authorities to release political opposition 
leaders and hold free and fair elections. The resolution calls for 
denying U.S. visas to Ukrainian officials involved in serious human 
rights abuses, anti-democratic actions, such as electoral fraud, or 
corruption, including officials involved in selective prosecution, 
persecution of political opponent.
  I call on Ukrainian officials to immediately free Ms. Tymoshenko.
  Also, Mr. Speaker, I spend time following, as I said, democracy 
issues in Eastern European areas, former captive nations, and I come to 
the floor also to talk about democracy in Belarus.
  I continue to be gravely concerned about the condition of political 
prisoners in Belarus and serious violations by Belarus of its 
commitments to respect human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule 
of law.

[[Page H5699]]

  Despite the release of two political prisoners, former presidential 
candidate Andrei Sannikov and his associate, Dmitry Bondarenko, the 
fundamentals of President Lukashenka's dictatorial rule have not 
changed. Thirteen political prisoners remain in prison, including 
Mikalai Statkevich, Ales Bialiatski, Syarhei Kavalenka, Zmitser 
Dashkevich, Pavel Seviarynets, Mikalai Autukhovich, Eduard Lobov and 
Mikalai Dziadok.
  While journalist Andrzej Poczobut has been released pending trial, we 
believe that his arrest for illegally defaming the president was 
politically motivated and that the conditions imposed on his release 
are designed to further limit his ability to exercise his human rights. 
Moreover, recent days have seen the surge of the offices of the Union 
of Poles and the confiscation of equipment supposedly related to Mr. 
Poczobut's case.
  We also recently have seen the arrest and detention and the release 
of journalist Pavel Sverdlov of the European Radio for Belarus for 
``using foul language.'' Maybe we should consider that here sometimes. 
Such arrests and short-term detentions are becoming an ever-more common 
means to silence dissent in Belarus.
  Increased restrictions on Alex Byalyatski and the court order issued 
July 4 for seizure of the offices of the Vyasna Human Rights Center are 
very disturbing.
  Belarus, which already has applied travel restrictions on members of 
the opposition and human rights activists, recently has taken another 
step to restrict the fundamental freedom of movement, the right to 
leave one's country and return to it.
  On July 12, the Belarusian authorities denied the right of Victor 
Kornienko, cochairman of the Initiative for Fair and Free Elections, to 
travel to Vienna to participate in the week's Supplementary Human 
Dimension Meeting. This restriction of Mr. Kornienko's freedom of 
movement calls into question Belarus' sincerity and commitment to 
change. The U.S. must protest this latest disregard of fundamental 
freedoms by Belarus.
  The U.S. must call on Belarus to release all political prisoners 
immediately and unconditionally, to restore their full political and 
civil rights, and to stop the ongoing harassment of political 
activists, civil society representatives, human rights activists, and 
independent journalists.
  Mr. Speaker, can I ask how much time I have remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 14 minutes remaining.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, last but not least, what I've done on a 
weekly basis is raise the issue of concern and address the high-level 
nuclear waste storage site in issue in this country. And so I really--
since we're very close to the end of the session, very few working days 
here left in Washington before the elections, I'm not sure how many 
more days I'll have available to come down to the floor--I'm finishing 
where I started over a year ago, going through the country and 
comparing nuclear waste sites to where they're at and where they should 
be. And why would I do this?
  Well, I would do this to help educate you, Speaker, on the fact that 
we have high-level nuclear waste stored throughout this country. And a 
lot of people do not know that we tried to address this in 1982 with 
passage of a law called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. And in 1987, and 
I wasn't here then, but this Chamber, this body, this country said, not 
only do we want to find a way to store our high-level nuclear waste, 
but we want it placed in a mountain, underneath a mountain in a desert. 
And that place is called Yucca Mountain.

  Now, since that time we've spent about $15 billion over 30 years 
investigating, doing the scientific studies to see if Yucca Mountain, 
again, a mountain in a desert, is a suitable place to put high-level 
nuclear waste. I believe it is, but I'm not a scientist.
  So what this Chamber did a couple of week ago is, in our 
appropriation bill, we asked our colleagues should we, as a national 
government, commit the final dollars to do the final scientific study 
to come to a final conclusion of whether Yucca Mountain is safe. Over 
about 326 of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, both Republicans 
and Democrats, from rural areas to urban areas, said let's keep going 
with the current public policy. Let's finish the study so we know if 
Yucca Mountain is indeed safe, and let's move to address our high-level 
nuclear waste and concerns throughout this country.
  Why is that important?
  Well, let's go to one site. Now, for you, Mr. Speaker, I've done this 
almost at least every month, probably every week we've been in session, 
going around the country at different locations from Tennessee to 
Illinois to Maryland, but where I started first is a very telling and 
educational location, and it's called Hanford.

                              {time}  1950

  Now, Hanford. I have a lot of colleagues and a lot of the new 
observers of our process here in Washington who sometimes think they 
should just shut down all government--stop spending, and don't have a 
Department of Energy. Sometimes you have to have a Department, and 
Hanford is a perfect example. Hanford is a legacy World War II nuclear 
waste site. We are still paying for winning World War II, and we are 
still paying for developing the nuclear weapons that stopped the war, 
especially in Asia. Obviously, the bombs dropped in Japan. And how are 
we paying for it? Well, we still have Hanford. I'll tell you that 
Hanford is right in the central, deep southern part of Washington 
State. This is the Columbia River.
  So what do we have in Hanford?
  At Hanford, we have 53 million gallons of nuclear waste on site. Now, 
this is not spent nuclear fuel. This is the chemical sludge--highly 
toxic and very nasty stuff--that was used to help, kind of refine 
uranium into the fuel needed to have nuclear weapons. There are 53 
million gallons. If you've ever been by a refinery and if you've seen a 
tank farm with crude oil--you'll see these great big tanks where some 
might be 750,000 gallons and some might be a million gallons--that's 
what's at Hanford, but they're all buried underground. In these tanks 
are the 53 million gallons of this toxic sludge, and as I point to it 
here, some of it is leaking. Now, the waste is stored 10 feet 
underground because it's buried underground. It is 250 feet above the 
water table. Remember, some of this is leaking, and it's 1 mile from 
the Columbia River.
  So I ask the question: Is there a better site?
  I think the government, over the years, has said there is a better 
place to put this stuff. In fact, this stuff is being processed and 
placed into canisters to go to one location, and that location is Yucca 
Mountain.
  Now, Yucca Mountain should have been opened years ago. What do we 
have at this site at Yucca Mountain?
  Right now, there is no nuclear waste on site. The waste will be 
stored 1,000 feet underground versus 10 feet. The waste would be 1,000 
feet above the water table versus 250 feet. The waste would be 100 
miles from the Colorado River versus 1 mile from the Columbia River.
  So I think the choice is fairly clear. Our promise to Washington 
State, like our promise to the nuclear utilities, was that, as they 
created this mess, we as a Nation--national government--would take it 
over and that we would safely store it in a single repository. That 
repository is here. However, we're not there yet.
  The question is: Why aren't we there?
  Because we have a Senate that is blocking the ability to have the 
final votes and to pay for the final scientific study to get this 
moving. And who is the majority leader of the Senate? Senator Harry 
Reid. But let's look at the Senators from the region. Where are they at 
on this issue? Who are the Senators who border the Columbia River? 
Well, it's pretty telling.
  Senator Murray has voted ``yes'' for Yucca Mountain. Senator Wyden 
from Oregon has voted ``yes.'' Senator Merkley has a ``no stated 
position.'' We don't know where he's at, although I think it would be a 
very important issue for that area. Senator Cantwell voted ``no'' on 
moving the high-level nuclear waste from Hanford to Yucca Mountain.
  Why is looking at individual Senators and where they're at on this 
position important?
  Because there are 100 Senators. With the way the rules in the other 
Chamber work, they really have to have 60 to

[[Page H5700]]

really move a bill on the floor, so I've been trying to do a tally of 
where these Senators are. Either in public statements or in having cast 
votes either in their Chamber or as former Members of the House, 55 
say, yes, Yucca Mountain should be our long-term geological repository 
and that we should be taking all our nuclear waste and putting it in a 
safe, secure cave in a mountain in a desert. For 22, we don't know 
their positions, and that's a lot of Senators. For 23, we have 
``nays.'' So, if Senator Cantwell would move from a ``nay'' to a 
``yea,'' you're at 56. Then you really need only four more Senators, 
and there is a whole boatload. Some of them are up for reelection, and 
they haven't had a chance to make a public statement or to have a 
position on nuclear waste in 6 years.
  What I find very confusing is that, in these 6 years, a lot of them 
come from States that have nuclear waste. Again, I like to talk about 
Hanford because this is Department of Defense waste that was created in 
developing the atomic bombs to win the Cold War--not the Cold War. 
Well, actually, they won the Cold War, too. They will say: a mutual 
assured destruction, an ability to have nuclear weapons to help protect 
Western Europe and to, really, protect the world. A lot of those 
weapons were created and developed right here at Hanford, but we still 
have the waste remaining. So we are looking for five more U.S. Senators 
to be able to move the bill on the floor and to pay for the final 
scientific study so as to keep our promise to the American people and 
to those who sacrificed land and location like Hanford.
  The U.S. Government just kind of swooped in and said, We need this 
place. I think the story goes, We're going to do hydroelectric power. 
It's going to be cheap fuel because we're going to need a lot of 
energy. They displaced farmers. They took over the land, and we've left 
53 million gallons of nuclear waste on site. We owe it to them to get 
it to a safe, secure location.
  The Federal Government realized that in 1982 by passing a law called 
the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The Federal Government then amended that 
law in 1987. In the years following, we moved diligently to finalize 
the preparations so that we could move forward. Then we hit a 
roadblock, and that roadblock was the election of President Obama, who 
made a promise to the majority leader of the Senate that we'll stop 
movement on Yucca Mountain--after 30 years, $15 billion, and no 
solution in sight. Now there is talk about, well, maybe we can do 
something else. I can guarantee you, if we do something else, it's 
going to take--what?--30 more years, and it's going to take $15 
billion. At the end of that, we're going to come to the same conclusion 
where we're not going to have a solution.
  So, when you hear people talk about interim storage, we have interim 
storage. Guess where it's at? It's around our major metropolitan areas. 
It's around Chicago. It's around Boston, Massachusetts. It's around Los 
Angeles. We have interim storage, and that's our nuclear utilities. Now 
we have interim storage in Hanford, Washington.
  It is time for us as a body to man up--to accept our 
responsibilities, to finish the scientific study, and to have a long-
term geological repository underneath a mountain in a desert so that we 
keep our promises and so that we protect this land for future 
generations.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time and the diligence. With that, I 
yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________