[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 161 (Thursday, September 17, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H4537-H4539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ISSUES OF THE DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Dean). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Shimkus), my good friend, great patriot, and veteran.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, as folks in the Chamber know, I have been 
taking some time to thank friends, family, and staff, for supporting me 
these 24 years as a Member of the House.
  Today, before I go down the organizational chart and mention 
caseworkers, legislative assistants, legislative correspondents, staff 
assistants, schedulers, there are some outliers in my organization that 
I need to mention.
  Mary Ellen, Mary Ellen Maxwell, and Maria Maxwell are all the same 
person. The Madonia family has strong roots in Springfield, Illinois, 
and in the Illinois Republican Party.
  Mary Ellen was on the campaign staff with me in 1996. Upon our 
victory, she joined the congressional staff. She eventually moved away 
and then got married.
  On returning to Illinois with Brad, she joined Team Shimkus as my 
campaign treasurer. Her family also grew, adding Zane and Lilly.
  We continue to joke about how Governor Edgar pointed to her at an 
event one time and said: ``Oh, you are the one who is going to go 
jail.'' Well, not only has she not gone to jail, she is a stickler for 
the law, keeping us both out of trouble.
  Dora Rohan has spent 29 years working with me, protecting me, and 
being my friend. She started out as my executive assistant when I 
became treasurer of Madison County. As the only countywide elected 
Republican, I needed a confidential employee whom I could trust. Dora 
fit the bill and also brought with her amazing secretarial skills, 
including shorthand.
  Dora followed me to my congressional office and became a caseworker 
for the remainder of her professional career. Oh, the stories she could 
tell, and someday, I hope she will.
  I also appreciated the times when we did travel together. These trips 
provided me a different perspective and insight to the goings on in my 
office, much to the chagrin of some of my other employees.
  I have had two great legislative assistants who informally became 
part of my senior staff. Chris Sarley and Jordan Haverly rose to 
prominence on their ability to handle policy, negotiations, and the 
politics that arise from public policy.

  They both were what we called shared staff. Because of my role as 
either chairman or ranking member of the Environment and Economy 
Subcommittee, they were my primary point person with the full 
committee. They also played key roles in negotiations with staff 
members of other offices, from Republican offices and Democrat offices.
  Chris Sarley and I had a lot of legislative successes, and I could 
spend all my time on that. Another Illinois boy, but a Chicagolander, I 
was skeptical at first until I found out that he was a Sox fan, not a 
fan of that other team.
  Chris' claim to fame is our success shepherding the Toxic Substance 
Control Act, commonly known as TSCA, through the legislative process 
and having it signed by President Obama. That piece of legislation took 
5\1/2\ years.
  This was the first rewrite of a major environmental law since it was 
passed in 1976. Praised by the chemical manufacturers and the 
environmental community, it is a perfect example of threading the 
needle to reform and update an old law.
  Thank you, Chris.
  Jordan is from Pennsylvania and is also in his second tour of duty 
with my office. He handles my subcommittee now. With Democrats in 
charge, we attempt to prevent overreach which is not scientifically 
supported and would hurt jobs in the economy. Many times doing nothing 
is better than doing something poorly.
  Jordan has a gift for working with social media. He also has a great 
handle on who I am and how I would like to respond to most issues. He 
never lets me down.
  Jordan, like my legislative director, seems to want to go down with 
the ship. That is loyalty, which I appreciate. He will be a great pick-
up for any office.
  Madam Speaker, as I have said numerous times, one is only as good as 
the people they have around them. These are some of the best, and I 
thank them.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Shimkus for the wonderful 
tribute being paid. We will have to stand up here at some point and pay 
a wonderful tribute to Mr. Shimkus.

[[Page H4538]]

  Obviously, there is a great deal of trouble going on, a lot of 
troubled people in this country. It is interesting, recently, my wife 
had flown up to be here in Washington for the President's speech on the 
White House grounds and, flying back, she noticed there were people 
with the BLM, Black Lives Matter, paraphernalia, things on there saying 
``BLM,'' ``Black Lives Matter.''
  It was interesting to hear, apparently, some of the comments, and the 
comments had to do with the free plane tickets they got to fly up to 
protest here. One person said, yeah, they got a free minivan the whole 
time they were here.
  Somebody is paying for those items to come up and threaten and 
assault. Thankfully, there weren't near as many batteries with the 
actual physical part of the assault, just threatened assaults.
  My wife and I, when we left the White House grounds up from the 
closed Pennsylvania part, trying to get down to our car in front of the 
Willard, we ended up being chased by a mob. The mob was on its way, and 
they were very loud and aggressive as they ran toward us, so I thought 
we will cut through the Willard, because I knew we would never make it 
all the way around the next block.
  There was a door there, a glass door, and I kept knocking on the 
door, and there were people at the other end of the hall. They could 
see us. Nobody would come open the door.
  Finally, the mob was getting closer as they were running toward us, 
and I said: Look, if they get here before this door gets open, you go 
ahead around the corner. I am sure they will be all enthralled with 
beating me. I don't think they will come after you. Just get around the 
block. There are police at the other end of the next block. Just get 
there while they are after me. Don't try to stay and defend me.
  But out of nowhere, this guy just comes up behind me--he worked for 
the Willard--scanned his card, opened the door right before the crowd 
got there.
  But it is just amazing, you know, who wants to inflict violence like 
that, and, more particularly, who is it that is funding people to come 
up and create havoc like that?
  In an article by Katharine Gorka a couple of days ago in The 
Federalist, entitled, ``How the 1960s Riots Foreshadow Today's 
Communist Weaponization of Black Pain''--clearly, there has been pain 
this country. George Floyd's death was so unnecessary. It was 
outrageous.

                              {time}  1545

  But who is paying?
  Who is stirring up all this violence to create more pain, more 
suffering, and more damage?
  It is a question worth finding an answer for.
  I have thought numerous times about David Horowitz. I introduced him 
to someone some years back and said that he used to be a Socialist; and 
David, now 80, said, Louie, I wasn't a Socialist, I was a Communist. I 
was a complete Communist, man.
  David has written before about his turn from being a Communist in the 
sixties. One of the things that he had said hit him very hard was they 
were preparing for protests, and someone else was trying to encourage 
efforts to make the police overreact so that they would hurt one of 
them. David didn't want anybody to get hurt or killed. He was told, We 
want the police to kill somebody because then we can ramp it up, and 
they won't be able to stop us. He never signed on to get somebody 
killed.
  But if you study the Marxist revolution going back to 1917, the 
October Revolution--of course, there was one earlier that year--but the 
Bolsheviks weren't the strongest party, the group of people at that 
time. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, but one 
thing they wanted to do--it is right out of the Marxist playbook--was 
to create such chaos that your little group may have a chance to weasel 
into power and take over.
  We are seeing a lot of that play out in this country. Fortunately, we 
have people in authority in the Federal Government--at least most 
places in the Federal Government in this administration, not all. We 
could improve some of the President's appointments who didn't turn out 
quite as strong as we had hoped. But we have to get to the bottom of 
who is paying, who is trying to get this thing all stirred up.
  This article from yesterday's, Washington Times, Jeff Mordock: 
``Attorney General William P. Barr told federal prosecutors last week 
to charge violent demonstrators with a range of offenses, including 
sedition, a charge usually reserved for someone plotting to overthrow 
the government.''
  But that bears looking back at the Federal sedition charge, 18 U.S. 
Code 2384 is seditious conspiracy.
  Some people I hear talk about it as this is treason. If you look at 
treason, both in the Constitution Article III, section 3, it is more 
about levying war against the United States Government. 18 U.S.C. 2381 
is treason, and it is giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the 
United States. So it is a tough go.
  But if you look at the seditious conspiracy: ``If two or more persons 
in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction 
of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by 
force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, 
or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, 
hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by 
force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States 
contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this 
title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.''
  So that could very well come into play.
  Madam Speaker, I bring it up hoping that those who think it is just 
fun to create havoc, maybe throw Molotov cocktails or even pay for them 
or help supply them, help fund people who are going to come throw them 
or create havoc, then you are looking at 20 years just under that 
statute alone.
  I know under the doctrine of Posse Comitatus, from my days in the 
Army and since then, that some people are confused about the doctrine. 
They say that the President can never commit troops against American 
people. But we saw the Clinton administration utilize vehicles and 
equipment--it had to have people helping from Fort Bliss, as I 
understand it, from back in those days--that ended up leading to the 
death of 70 or 80 people there outside of Waco. The President can, but 
he has to do it himself. That was one of the confusing things back 
then. President Clinton, as I recall, was asked about it and he said 
something like, Oh, that is Reno's deal.
  Well, you couldn't utilize what was utilized against David Koresh 
with his confused personality, problematic as it was. Even that, you 
couldn't use military resources without the President's approval. So we 
never found out how in the world the orders were given, if the 
President himself didn't give it. That was a violation of the law.
  But here in 10 U.S. Code 253, it says, ``The President, by using the 
militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take 
such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any 
insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy . 
. .''
  But you note the words ``domestic violence.'' It goes on.
  ``If it so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of 
the United States within the State, that any part or class of its 
people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named 
in the Constitution and secured by law . . .''
  So it is wide open to being used in some of these riots where 
people's life, liberty, and certainly their property is not being 
protected, it is being overwhelmed. I think the President is right to 
give Governors and mayors the chance to protect their people, but at 
some point if it is not done, this ought to make clear to those 
Governors and mayors who aren't protecting their people, the President 
has authority to send in people to put down what appears to be 
sedition. This violence really is Marxist violence.
  It says in their title, Black Lives Matter. But if you look at what 
they are in favor of, it is not about Black lives mattering; it is 
things like destroying the family. Of course, BLM calls it the Western-
style family, and that alone is just completely fiction.
  The families we have traditionally known in the United States since 
our very inception weren't Western style. These were Middle Eastern. 
These came from Moses and from Christians

[[Page H4539]]

or Jews who believed what Moses said was inspired or provided by God. 
He said that a man shall leave his father and mother, a woman will 
leave her home, and the two will become one.

  Years later Jesus is asked about marriage and divorce. He quotes 
Moses verbatim and then adds the line: What God has joined together let 
nobody separate. So we didn't come up with that type of marriage. It is 
not Western style. We have to give credit where credit is due. It is 
Middle-Eastern style. It is from Moses. It is from Jesus. So you can't 
really take credit for that.
  But, then, again, when you are a Marxist group dedicated to the 
overthrow of the government and replacing it with a Socialist, 
Communist, Progressive, whatever you want to call it, that is the way 
they go. That is the direction. You destroy the history so you can't 
learn from prior mistakes and you can't learn from prior successes, you 
just rewrite the history. Orwell had a lot to say about that.
  There is a study--as this article from The Federalist points out by 
Joy Pullmann--up to 95 percent of 2020 U.S. riots are linked to Black 
Lives Matter. That is quite a good article and quite informative.
  But then this article by Edwin Mora says that a pro-Communist China 
group is funding a Black Lives Matter-linked organization. It points 
out that a pro-Communist China group, the Chinese Progressive 
Association in San Francisco, is actively funding a venture by Black 
Lives Matter cofounder and unabashedly anti-capitalist, Alicia Garza.
  Another article by Peter Hasson from 2 days ago points out that Black 
Lives Matter cofounder Alicia Garza in 2015 said that capitalism must 
be abolished for Black lives to matter.
  So, basically, they are pushing for the destruction of our 
Constitution-based government, and they are creating all kinds of 
chaos.
  So it shouldn't surprise anybody who saw the article yesterday by 
Douglas Ernst that that Jesus statue that is 90 years old was destroyed 
at St. Patrick's Cathedral in El Paso, the quote here is: I am in 
shock.
  But that is what Socialist, Communist, Progressives push. If you look 
at what Communists, Socialists have done, it is clear: you have to get 
rid of any belief in anything except the government.
  As I have mentioned before, when I was an exchange student in the 
Soviet Union, there were eight Americans that summer from the U.S. We 
went to the former city--it was the only recognized Christian seminary 
in the Soviet Union at the time--of Zagorsk. There was a building--as 
you would turn into the walled area of Zagorsk, there was a building 
there with a painting of Lenin's face and above it Lenin. Below it was 
``Lenin s nami,'' Lenin is with us. So you may be turning in here to 
learn about Jesus, but just remember it is Lenin who is with us, nobody 
else. That is the message.
  It actually made me nauseous to go into an old church in Moscow that 
had a stained glass window with big gorgeous colors; instead of Jesus 
with all the children suffering to come under Him, it was Lenin sitting 
as Jesus is often depicted surrounded by the children. It was a bit 
sickening to go into the massive cathedral there in what was then St. 
Petersburg originally, then it became Leningrad. But that gorgeous, 
massive cathedral had been converted to a museum of atheism and 
evolution--just incredible.
  But that is where this all has to go if you are going to have a 
successful destruction of the freedoms we have and go to government 
control and government ownership and no private property. That is where 
it all ends up, if we don't get it stopped. It will mean the end of the 
country that afforded the greatest opportunities individually, the 
greatest assets individually, and the highest standard of living.
  It is tragic that we have poverty in the United States, tragic that 
we still have any homelessness at all that hasn't apparently improved a 
whole lot since the War on Poverty started trillions of dollars ago, 
but even so, we still had the highest standard of living and 
opportunities, I would submit, in history. It is what freedom and 
private property has brought--innovation, the greatest innovation in 
the history of the world. But that is all in jeopardy right now, and 
Americans better wake up. It is all at risk.
  These Marxist revolutionaries need to be stopped. It is sedition. It 
is a violation of Federal and most State law, and it is time to put it 
to an end. If the Governors and mayors who have been allowing this to 
go on--depriving Americans of their life, liberty, pursuit of happiness 
on their own property--then it will be time for the President to use 
these Federal statutes to step in and bring peace to the country once 
again, so we can go through our lives without worrying about being 
chased by a mob that is upset with you just because you went and heard 
a speech.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________