[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15641]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING THE SERVICE OF LANE A. EVANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, in 1982, in the State of Illinois, a 31-
year-old man announced his candidacy for United States Congress from 
the 17th Congressional District. His name was Lane Evans. He was a 
Marine veteran and a young legal aid attorney helping poor people in 
his home community.
  It was viewed initially as kind of a suicide mission that he was not 
going to be able to win, but some of us decided that we were going to 
get involved in that campaign even though we weren't necessarily from 
his district and, gathering with people who supported him from his 
area, ran a campaign that elected the first Democrat since the Civil 
War from that area, a young man who impressed the people of his 
district with his incredible modesty, but also clarity.
  Lane Evans was so clear that his mission was to represent the 
ordinary people of that section of western Illinois, to represent 
unions and veterans and poor people, and to be their voice in the 
United States Congress. It turned out to be one of the most important 
elections in my view, in history, certainly in the history of the State 
of Illinois.
  Lane served for 25 years in the Congress. Again, this was a district 
that was considered kind of a swing district, but year after year, 
election after election, Lane Evans would be elected with very wide 
margins.
  Lane Evans was fearless. He would stand up for what was right even 
when some of us would say, ``Lane, are you sure? This may not go over 
so great in your district. What do you think?''
  He would look at us and say, ``Absolutely. This is the right thing to 
do. I don't have any qualms about it.'' He would vote his conscience, 
and people respected that, whether they totally agreed with every vote 
or not.
  Lane Evans was the first member--or maybe Danny Davis--the second--in 
our delegation to endorse for Senator a young Barack Obama. Lane 
proudly brought him to western Illinois and was always a great 
supporter.
  When Barack Obama won his election for President in 2008, he sat next 
to Lane Evans, who was already somewhat debilitated by Parkinson's 
disease, a disease that finally took his life after two decades, 
holding his hand and telling him that, if it weren't for Lane Evans, 
that Barack Obama wouldn't be President of the United States of 
America.
  He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease almost two decades ago. 
Lane Evans lived so modestly. I think some people have impressions of 
Members of Congress as having drivers and black limousines or 
something. Lane Evans lived exactly like the ordinary person in his 
district.
  As his funeral procession led through the Quad Cities, we went down, 
in Rock Island, Lane Evans Way. It was a neighborhood of very modest, 
middle class--I would even say working class--homes. That is where Lane 
Evans grew up, and that is where his heart and his mind always were.
  Lane Evans was honored by the Marines as he was leaving Congress with 
the tattoo that they do, an amazing performance and then an honor for 
Lane.
  Lane, as a Vietnam era veteran, was the first really to talk about 
agent orange and the impact that it had on the long-term health of many 
of our Vietnam veterans and, finally, to get care for our veterans for 
agent orange.
  He was one of the early people to understand the unseen injuries of 
PTSD and to call attention to that as ranking member on the Veterans' 
Affairs Committee.
  He was such an inspiring person, such a fearless fighter for the 
middle class, for veterans; and it is apt that we now name the VA 
clinic in Galesburg, Illinois, in the 17th Congressional District, for 
Congressman Lane Evans. It is part of his legacy, but only part of his 
legacy.
  For many of us, we will always believe that, because of Lane Evans, 
it is good politics as well as good policy to stand up for the 
principles that you believe in for a just society, for an equal 
society. And I am sure Danny Davis will talk about that.
  Before I was elected to anything, we went to El Salvador, so Lane 
Evans' sense of justice extended beyond the borders of the United 
States of America to major conflicts in Central America.
  Lane Evans will be sorely missed but ever remembered.

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