Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, today I rise to recognize the village of Odin, Illinois, as they celebrate their 150th anniversary.

The village was founded in 1860 near the construction of the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad and the Illinois Central Railroad by Thomas Deadmond, Silas Barr, Samuel McClelland, James Adams, Thomas Pigg and John Hill. The strong character, respect and honesty possessed by these founding fathers are traits still held by Odin's citizens today.

The village of Odin has made a significant impact in the history of Illinois, despite its small size. This thriving mining community has supplied coal that powers the state of Illinois and specifically University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It has also produced teachers, doctors, attorneys and leaders benefiting both the village and the state.

I would like to congratulate the village of Odin and all of its citizens as they mark 150 years of accomplishments and wish them continued success and prosperity in the years to come.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor the 90th anniversary of an important community service organization in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

The Mt. Vernon Rotary Club was founded in 1920 and has grown into a vital element of the community. For the past 90 years, the Mt. Vernon Rotary Club, like Rotary clubs all across our nation, has brought together local business leaders in a friendly, casual setting, where they discuss ways to band together and serve the community. I applaud the willingness of these Rotarians to step forward and serve their community.

At the 90th anniversary celebration, this year's Rotary Club President Dan Boehmer summed up the spirit of the Rotary Club when he told the Mt. Vernon Register-News, ``There's such a rich history of people who have done so many things in the community for the sake of service itself. When you get people together who know how to get things done, you get a lot done in the community.''

I want to congratulate Mr. Boehmer and all the members of the Mt. Vernon Rotary Club, past and present, on celebrating their 90th anniversary, and to join with the other Members of this House in wishing them continued success for another 90 years and beyond.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the state champion dance team from Metro-East Lutheran High School in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Just three one-hundreths of a point separated the Dancer Knights from a clean sweep at state. They captured state championship honors in Class A Jazz and Class A Pom Dance, and narrowly missed the title in Lyrical. These were just the latest titles in the distinguished history of the Dancer Knights, who also won state championships in 2005, 2008 and 2009.

I want to join with the other Members of this House in congratulating coaches Kristen Reeb-Wardlaw, Mariah Scott and Stephanie McGovern for their work with this outstanding group of student-athletes. I especially want to congratulate the members of the Dancer Knights on their tremendous achievement: Katelyn Batty, Shanna Rull, Katie Miller, Leah Yurchuck, Haley Santen, Phoenix Helmkamp, Jessica Ross, Sarah Menk, Ashley Paskero, Alyssa Rupprecht, Allison Clessa and Becky Newton.

These young ladies have represented themselves, their school and their community in an exemplary fashion. I wish them continued success in both their academic and athletic endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of the 60th Anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the North invaded the South, and continued till an armistice was signed on July 27, 1953. As we all know, troops remain on the border today.

I have a special fondness for Korean veterans, as my father (Gene Shimkus of Collinsville, Illinois) served in Korea.

One and one-half million United States soldiers answered the call to arms during the war. 54,246 United States soldiers lost their lives while fighting in Korea. 103,284 United States soldiers were wounded; 7,140 were taken prisoner; and 8,177 were listed as missing in action while fighting in Korea. 131 Medals of Honor were received for exceptional bravery and courage by those fighting in Korea with 93 of those being awarded posthumously.

Today, the number of living Korean War veterans continues to decline each year, depriving them the opportunity to accept the appreciation of their service from a grateful nation. I honor those who so bravely fought and made the ultimate sacrifice in Korea. May God bless our Korean War veterans and may God continue to bless America.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor the 175th anniversary of the Chatham Presbyterian Church in Chatham, Illinois.

The Chatham Presbyterian Church was founded in 1835 by some of Chatham's founding citizens, the Reverend Dewey Whitney, T.A. Spilman and William Thornton. The first service was held in Mr. Thornton's home and was attended by about 15 families, some of whom had come by wagon from New York to settle Sangamon County.

From that humble beginning, Chatham Presbyterian has expanded to more than 400 members, and several new buildings. Just after celebrating their sesquicentennial in 1985, Chatham Presbyterian moved into its current building on Walnut Street in Chatham. Over the years, Chatham Presbyterian has been an important part of the Chatham and Springfield communities, as well as carrying on mission work across the country and around the world. In addition, Chatham Presbyterian is active in our local community, hosting group work camps in Springfield's historic Enos Park neighborhood.

I want to congratulate Dr. Joe Eby, Pastor of Chatham Presbyterian, and the entire church family on celebrating this important milestone. I join with the other members of this House in wishing Chatham Presbyterian another 175 years of success.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor the life of Frances M. Berckman, better known as ``Nanny Fran.''

``Nanny Fran'' passed from this life at the age of 96 on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010.

She is remembered fondly and lovingly as a mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and even great great grandmother. She was born and raised in Jersey City some 96 years ago, and lived the past 42 years in Keansburg, New Jersey. Her husband, Matthew passed away in 1990.

She is survived by three daughters and a son-in-law; Dolores Laabs of Pennsylvania, Roberta and Jack Waugh of Hazlet, and Kathleen Berckman of Brick. In addition, she has twelve grandchildren, twenty great grandchildren, and four great great grandchildren.

As if they were not enough to keep her life filled with happiness and love; she spent her time as a homemaker, bingo champion, reading and frequent trips to Atlantic City. She was also a member of St. Ann's Church where a funeral mass will occur to celebrate her life on Friday, June 18th at 11:00 am. Family and friends will gather at the Jacqueline M. Ryan Funeral Home in Keansburg, New Jersey on Thursday, June 17th to share their memories of this wonderful woman.

I was honored to know her through four of her grandchildren (Thomas, Matt, Deidre, and Greg Keelen), who now, along with the rest of her family, serve as her legacy. She is assured that it is in good and loving hands. God Bless ``Nanny Fran.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the City of Shawneetown, Illinois, upon its bicentennial. Shawnetown was established as a city by the Federal Government in 1810 and is the oldest chartered city in the State of Illinois.

Shawneetown was home to the first bank in the Illinois Territory, chartered in 1816 and located in the John Marshall residence near the Ohio River Bridge. The first State bank in Illinois was built in 1839- 1840 in Shawenetown.

General Marquis de LaFayette, of France, visited Shawneetown in 1825, as part of his famous tour of America after he had served so valiantly during the American Revolution.

Shaweetown was flooded by great flood of 1937. The gauge read 66 feet, which was five feet higher than the top of the levee. Following the 1937 flood, Shawneetown moved three miles west and was surveyed by the Federal Government.

Today, Shawneetown is the home of Bunge Grain Corporation, Power Inc., Shawneetown Harbor Service, Inc., a Peabody Coal Company River Dock and several other small businesses.

I would like to congratulate the citizens of Shawnetown as they celebrate 200 years of success. May God bless Shawneetown for many years to come.

I have a unanimous consent request, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, as a 20-year Army veteran, 5 years of active infantry and Airborne Ranger--I don't wear it on my sleeve--I support Ranking Member McKeon and Chairman Skelton. This is devastating to the warfighters and to the combat infantrymen.

I thank my colleague for giving me some time. I am joined with some high school students from North City, Illinois, which is a small rural community. The thing that is worrying them and they are focusing on is, where are the jobs going to be?

And I always come back to over this last year and a half: What have we done to help create an environment? As you know, and you have got a great background in this, there is a simple statement: If you want employees, you have to have employers.

Well, we forget it, and we drive them out. You look at what we have done with the bailout of Wall Street. What we actually did was we established a premise of too big to fail, and then we bailed out the huge, powerful, big Wall Street banks. And who is paying the fare? Our small community banks, with new insurance premiums, and they are the ones who loan to small businesses throughout small-town rural southern Illinois.

And then we bring up a cap-and-trade regime on a false premise of carbon dioxide as a toxic emittent. We say we want to tax carbon. What does that mean? Higher electricity prices, higher gas prices. That is not a good signal for people to invest and take over this if they are going to get a return investment.

Then, we do the fraud of all frauds, and we say we are going to provide health care to all Americans, and we are going to cut Medicare $500 billion, we are going to raise another $500 billion in taxes, and we are going to create a system that really is unsustainable.

And the business community is saying, time out. I am not going to take any risk until this thing all sorts out.

So it is unfortunate, when we really need jobs in America, that our response here in the past 18 months is to send every signal against those.

I want to finish with the statement that if you want to pay for government

services, you have to have the private sector that is earning money to pay the taxes to pay for government services. Government employment, government jobs is not going to be able to pay for government services.

Right. And as we follow the now health care law, it's hard for some of us to really--I mean, the reality is that the people who are going to have the most difficulty are the small businesses in complying. And, again, when you talked about small-town rural America, you look at--we want to encourage people to hire folks. We don't want to discourage the centralized--and it's a sad state of affairs that the only place in America that you can go to find a job is Washington, D.C., and the only place that real estate values are high is Washington, D.C. We cannot continue to incentivize the national capital at the expense of Main Street USA.

If the gentleman would yield, in small town rural America, a big company has 25 employees, maybe 40 employees. I mean, they are the massive job creators of rural America. And I know the Department of Commerce has their categories of what defines small. Most folks in my congressional district--again, I have someone who joined me tonight--I mean, if someone had 500 jobs in any part of the district, that would be like a massive influx. And so that's where we need to get to. We need to provide the incentive. I'm not just putting just the national government to blame. The State of Illinois is one of the worst States for people to locate and create jobs because of additional things that you just highlighted.

It's tough on taxes.

And you have it up there too. I'm going to end with this: uncertainty, because uncertainty creates a disincentive for people to assume risk. And if they're going to assume risk, that's where bailouts are a failed economic policy because there are two sides of that coin. If you're successful, we want those folks to be rewarded and be able to keep that earned money so that they can grow their business. But if they fail, they fail. Grant failed numerous times. Lincoln failed numerous times. The history of this country is rife with very successful individuals who were not successful in many businesses but didn't turn to government to ask for a handout.

I want to thank you. I wanted to come down and visit. I appreciate your yeoman's work on this, and thank you for your work.

I'd like to read a letter from a former Chrysler dealer in my district: ``Dear Congressman, I'd like to thank you for cosponsoring H.R. 2743, the Automobile Dealers Economic Rights Restoration Act of 2009, and H.R. 3179, the Financial Services and Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010.

``The letter I received from you, dated August 7, 2009, was appreciated. The H.R. 3288 bill has no doubt done a great deal of good for a lot of GM and Chrysler dealers. However, the bill did not address the dealerships that lost everything and has no possible way of going back into business.

``When Chrysler informed me on May 14, 2009, that my franchise was going to be terminated effective at the close of business on June 9, 2009, I had 263 new Chrysler vehicles in inventory and $412,000 of Chrysler parts. In their letter they stated: `We intend to maintain business as usual and after rejection, we want to work with you to assist in the redistribution of new vehicles and parts to ease the burden on you.'

``They did nothing except lie to Congress. Chrysler went out of their way to make sure I could not stay in business. The week of May 18, they sent

letters to all my customers informing them that I could not be a Chrysler dealer as of June 10, 2009, and if they need service work to take their vehicles to another dealership. At the time I was terminated, my dealership was in the top 5 percent of sales; my customer satisfaction was one of the highest Chrysler had. In 2006, my parts and service managers both were awarded Chrysler Managers of the Year and I was runner-up for Dealer of the Year.

``I could not believe I was being terminated. When I tried to call and inquire as to why I was terminated, no one would answer my call. To this day, no one has explained why I lost my franchise. By the close of business on June 9, the dealership had sold all but 186 vehicles at retail and reduced the parts inventory to $352,000. When I called Chrysler about what I should do with the leftover new vehicles, I was told that they had other issues to deal with and would get back to me in a few months. They also stated that I could not retain the vehicles as new, and the vehicles would not qualify for any of the factory rebates or factory warranties.

``I was forced to sell all of the 186 vehicles to other Chrysler dealers at $3,000 to $4,000 loss per vehicle, which amounted to a loss of $700,000 of cash. When I tried to sell my Chrysler parts to other dealers, they received phone calls and were told if they need parts to call Chrysler, not Dave Croft Motors.''

Madam Speaker, this is just the first page of three that I am submitting for the Record which talks about, really, the theft of personal-property in the government bailouts of automobile companies. This is an individual family business that has existed for decades that was destroyed, abused, and left with nothing.

He ends with, ``I will keep telling my story to anyone who will listen. I hope that some kind of law will be put in place so this cannot happen to another business in the future. I still have to tell myself that I live in America and not in China.''

What he experienced was the government intervention and taking over of personal, private wealth in this country. And it's an indication of a sad direction this country has taken when it thwarts the capitalist model of raising capital, taking a risk, and either benefiting from that risk or losing everything.

When we get involved in bailing out Wall Street banks, and then we don't bail out small Main Street businesses, what we have here is a discrepancy. If we would allow the market to work, it's not compassionate. It's very, very tough, but it is the best way to turn around the economy. Otherwise, small businesses around this country will continue to get rolled over by Big Business and Big Government.

And with that, I would like to submit the entire letter for the Record.

Dave Croft,

Edwardsville, IL, April 5, 2010.

Congressman John M. Shimkus,

Regency Centre,

Collinsville, IL.

Dear Congressman: I would like to thank you for

cosponsoring H.R. 2743 ``The Automobile Dealers Economic

Rights Restoration Act of 2009'' and H.R. 3179, ``The

Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act

for FY 2010.'' The letter I received from you dated August 7,

2009, was appreciated. The H.R. 3288 bill has no doubt done a

great deal of good for a lot of the GM and Chrysler dealers.

However, the bill did not address the dealerships that lost

everything and has no possible way of going back in business.

When Chrysler informed me on May 14th, 2009 that my

franchise was going to be terminated effective at the close

of business on June 9th, 2009, I had 263 new Chrysler

vehicles in inventory and $412,000 of Chrysler parts. In

their letter they stated ``We intend to maintain ``business

as usual'' and ``After rejection, we want to work with you to

assist in the redistribution of new vehicles and parts to

ease the burden on you''. They did nothing except lie to

Congress. Chrysler went out of their way to make sure I could

not stay in business. The week of May 18th they sent letters

to all my customers informing them that I would not be a

Chrysler dealer as of 6/10/2009 and if they need service work

to take their vehicles to Cassens & Sons in Edwardsville.

At the time I was terminated my dealership was in the top

5% of sales, my customer satisfaction was one of the highest

Chrysler had. In 2006 my Parts & Service managers both were

awarded Chrysler's managers of the year and I was runner-up

for dealer of the year. I could not believe I was being

terminated. When I tried to call to inquire as to why I was

terminated, no one would answer my call. To this day no one

has explained why I lost my franchise!!!

By the close of business on June 9th, the dealership had

sold all but 186 vehicles at retail and reduced the parts

inventory to $352,000. When I called Chrysler about what I

should do with the left over new vehicles, I was told they

had other issues to deal with and would get back to me in a

few months. They also stated that I could not retail the

vehicles as new and the vehicles would not qualify for any of

the factory rebates or factory warranty. I was forced to sell

all of the 186 vehicles to other Chrysler dealers at $3,000

to $4,000 lost per vehicle which amounted to a loss of

$700,000 dollars of cash. When I tried to sell my Chrysler

parts to other dealers, they received phone calls and were

told if they need parts to call Chrysler, not Dave Croft

Motors.

In 2006 the dealership did $47,251,683 in sales and

employed 55 families. In 2007 we had $55,894,301 in sales and

employed 53 families. Just think of the tax dollars the State

of Illinois, County of Madison and the City of Collinsville

was collecting from my dealership!

After wholesaling my new car inventory to other Chrysler

dealers and selling most of the parts for 15% on the dollar,

it was the end of July and the dealership was out of cash. I

did everything I could to keep the dealership open but

without a franchise it was impossible to pay the overhead. I

had to let most of my employees go. On January 19th, 2010 I

had to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I was forced, to sell the

building, which I built in 1979, to pay my creditors. My

family and I lost everything we worked for the last 34 years.

It is still hard for me to believe that this could happen

in America. I was always under the belief that my Congress

would make sure that nothing like this could ever happen to

anyone who worked as hard as my family did. I could

understand if Chrysler file bankruptcy and did not receive my

tax dollars to keep them in business, and then my government

gave 15% to Fiat who put no money into the deal--we the

people are going to lose billions of dollars on Chrysler! I

just look at Chrysler's sales! Anyone can see that the

government will have to give them more money. Crazy!!

After Congress passed the Automobile Dealers Economic

Rights Restoration Act, 400 of the 798 dealers filed for

arbitration, I being one. Chrysler reviewed the 400 who had

requested arbitration and decided that 50 of the terminated

dealers should NOT have been terminated and gave them a

letter of intent (gave them back their franchise) without

going through the arbitration process, I am one of the 50

dealers. After losing my building, all of my parts, all of my

equipment, have no cash and they tell me sorry you should not

have been terminated--give me a break, and, oh yes, Chrysler

gave all my customers to other dealers. What do I do now? I

was making a profit when my dealership was terminated and

believe I would still be a strong dealer today if Chrysler

had not terminated my franchise. This has been a nightmare

for my customers.

I know that when you cosponsored the above bill that you

had great intentions. You have to know that Chrysler will not

deal in good faith. They will make the requirements to get

reinstate so unreal that very few dealers will be able to

meet their requirements. What about dealers like myself who

cannot go back into business? It does nothing for me. At one

time NADA was trying to get compensation paid to the dealers

that lost their franchise: $3000 dollars for each unit

retailed in one of the following years, 2006, 2007 or 2008,

and purchase back all the Chrysler parts and special tools.

This would only be a fraction of what my family has lost, but

we have nothing now. Starting over at the age of 65 will be

very hard and I will have a hard time putting any trust in

the laws of our country.

I will keep telling my story to anyone who will listen. I

hope that some kind of law will be put in place so this

cannot happen to another business in the future. I still have

to tell myself that I live in America and not in China.

Dave Croft.

Mr. Speaker, President Obama stated on February 7, 2010, ``If we can start bending the cost curve on health care, that's the most important thing we can do to deal with the deficits long term.'' Well, we always agreed that he was bending the cost curve. But our position was that it wasn't being bent down; it was being bent up.

The chief actuary of CMS, Mr. Foster's, report supports this and states that health care costs will accelerate by over $300 billion because of this bill. The health reform law will not extend the life of our entitlement programs, because severe cuts to the programs are used not to strengthen Medicare but, rather, to finance other outlays. And Medicare cuts could lead to providers ending their participation in the program.

This is not Republicans. This is the chief actuary of CMS who is saying this bill is a dog, and we'd better redo it because it's going to raise costs and decrease benefits.

There is an old saying, If you broke it, you have to keep it. We just broke health care in America.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues for bringing down this resolution. Long-term care is very, very important, as are the physicians involved in taking care of our seniors. The primary payer of long-term care is Medicaid. And regarding the Democratic health care bill, what happened to Illinois is that the mandated increase in Medicaid forces a $2 billion additional cost in the State of Illinois, another unfunded mandate in a State that is already $11 billion in debt. And I think my colleague from California would understand that because of the indebtedness in the State of California. We are both, our States are both, in serious problems.

The Medicare cost cuts in this bill, in the Democratic health care bill, is $463 billion for Medicare, which means that doctors are going to stop providing and giving access. My colleague talked about the AMA. We have physicians here on the Republican side who are members of the AMA who are adamantly opposed to the health care bill.

The third thing is that in this economy we cannot afford a $569 billion tax increase to pay for this. Caterpillar today just announced that this health care bill will add another $100 million of cost to their service. Now how are we going to increase jobs in the economy by increasing taxes that much? And I would like to end with this quote from the Catholic bishops: ``Notwithstanding the denials and explanations of its supporters, and unlike the bill approved by the House of Representatives in November, the Senate bill deliberately excludes the language of the Hyde amendment. It expands Federal funding and the role of the Federal Government in the provision of abortion procedures. In so doing, it forces all of us to become involved in an act that profoundly violates the conscience of many, the deliberate destruction of unwanted members of the human family still waiting to be born.''

Would the gentlewoman yield?

The true response to that is that 55 nuns signed that letter, 10,000 nuns have come out against this position by those 55.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to mark the 20th anniversary of the Amy Schulz Child Advocacy Center in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

The center was born from tragedy when, in 1987, 10-year-old Amy Schulz of Kell, Illinois,

was murdered. Her father, Dennis Schulz, was determined to do all he could to see that no other families had to face the kind of devastating tragedy like that which afflicted his family. Mr. Schulz lobbied legislators for greater protection of children from violent criminals and started the Amy Center to keep the advocacy work going.

Starting with just a one-room office twenty years ago, the Amy Center has expanded and helped more than 100,000 children in several counties in south-central Illinois. Its advocacy efforts and education programs have had a lasting, positive impact.

I stand before this House to thank Dennis and Esther Schulz for their determination to protect children from violence. I also commend Executive Director LaDonna Richards and the staff of the Amy Center, past and present, who have done so much good work for the children of south-central Illinois. Their positive efforts and big hearts have done much to make our community a better, safer place to live. I extend my appreciation on their 20 years of service.

Madam Speaker, I am here today to introduce ``The Next Generation 9-1-1 Preservation Act of 2010.'' This bill represents the hard work of my colleague and E9-1-1 Caucus Co-Chair, Anna Eshoo, as well as our Senate Co-Chair counterparts, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Richard Burr.

Representative Eshoo and I have worked on 911 issues for many years and I appreciate her reaching across the aisle to work on these issues. As we both sit on the Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction on these issues,

it was only logical that seven years ago we would work together to start this Caucus. This year we welcomed two new Senate Co-Chairs, Senator Klobuchar and Senator Burr who are going to be shepherding this important legislation on the Senate side. I know they share our concerns with E911 service and understand the unique importance of ensuring this technology will expand to the areas that need it most.

Moving forward to ``Next Generation 9-1-1'' is one of the most important aspects of our legislation. Encouraging rural communities like Illinois' 19th district to invest in these critical technologies is what our Caucus and this legislation are hoping to achieve. My goal, along with my Caucus Co-Chairs is to bring attention for the need for true interoperability in these call centers and ensure that all Americans can have access to these critical emergency services.

Finally, one of the most important parts of our bill is to correct the problem of states diverting their 9-1-1 funds to support other programs. The Next Generation 9-1-1 Preservation Act prevents states that divert funds from receiving the grants in the legislation. In tough economic times I can see how it would be tempting for states to reach into 911 funds but we simply cannot allow these important tax dollars to be used for something other than critical 911 services.

I am proud to be an original sponsor of this legislation and look forward to working with my good friend Representative Eshoo and my Senate Co-Chairs on getting this legislation signed into law.

Madam Speaker, I am honored to come to the floor with my good friend, Congressman Jones, and also two members of the Board of Visitors, Congressman Hall, who also represents that area, and Congressman Marshall, who served honorably in the Vietnam conflict and is a great friend. They both serve on the Board of Visitors, which I have recently been named on. I look forward to doing the job I guess next week, when we meet to continue the job.

Congressman Marshall did mention the mission of the United States Military Academy, which is, ``To educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country, and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer of the United States Army.''

As was noted, I graduated in 1980. I had many of my classmates who are major commanders and leaders in the areas of battle today. The number one responsibility of the Federal Government is the protection of our citizens. We do that by having a standing military. We have learned that the importance of having a professional military force is critical. Thomas Jefferson learned that and instituted the development of the United States Military Academy in 1802. The important thing that Thomas Jefferson did that was different, though, was he focused on raising the professional military Army out of the regular citizens of our country, thus developing this process of which we nominate and we accept. So that it is not an elite from the elite, but it is a perspective of all Americans.

Every young man or woman who achieves good grades, are kids of character, strong moral conviction, athletically fit and sound can compete for this opportunity for an education, which has been noted by the magazine article. But they do it for more than just a good education, because it is at great risk. Because what they have agreed to do is serve their country. And that is not a small decision to make in this environment.

I would like to submit for the Record since the global war on terror, since September 11, 2001, a list of those West Pointers who fell in the line of duty.

Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) William E. Bowers...................USMA 1979 Colonel James W. Harrison, Jr., U.S. Army.....................USMA 1981 Lieutenant Colonel Dominic R. Baragona, U.S. Army.............USMA 1982 Colonel Brian D. Allgood, U.S. Army...........................USMA 1982 Colonel Theodore S. Westhusing, U.S. Army.....................USMA 1983 Lieutenant Colonel Michael J. McMahon, U.S. Army..............USMA 1985 Mr. Douglas B. Gurian.........................................USMA 1986 Lieutenant Colonel Paul J. Finken, U.S. Army..................USMA 1989 Lieutenant Colonel James J. Walton, U.S. Army.................USMA 1989 Major Curtis D. Feistner, U.S. Army...........................USMA 1990 Major William F. Hecker III, U.S. Army........................USMA 1991 Major Guy Barattieri, U.S. Army...............................USMA 1992 Major Stephen C. Reich, U.S. Army.............................USMA 1993 Major Jason E. George U.S. Army...............................USMA 1994 Captain Bartt D. Owens, U.S. Army.............................USMA 1994 Captain James F. Adamouski, U.S. Army.........................USMA 1995 Captain John F. Kurth, U.S. Army..............................USMA 1995 Captain Joshua T. Byers, U.S. Army............................USMA 1996 Captain Matthew J. August, U.S. Army..........................USMA 1997 Captain Philip T. Esposito, U.S. Army.........................USMA 1997 Captain Michael J. MacKinnon, U.S. Army.......................USMA 1997 Captain Mark C. Paine, U.S. Army..............................USMA 1997 Captain Eric T. Paliwoda, U.S. Army...........................USMA 1997 Captain Ian P. Weikel, U.S. Army..............................USMA 1997 Captain Nathan S. Dalley, U.S. Army...........................USMA 1998 Captain Stephen W. Frank, U.S. Army...........................USMA 1998 Captain Ralph J. Harting III, U.S. Army.......................USMA 1998 Captain Christopher B. Johnson, U.S. Army.....................USMA 1998 Captain Dennis L. Pintor, U.S. Army...........................USMA 1998 Captain David A. Boris, U.S. Army.............................USMA 1999 Captain Douglas A. Dicenzo, U.S. Army.........................USMA 1999 Captain Brian S. Freeman, U.S. Army...........................USMA 1999 Captain Benedict J. Smith, U.S. Army..........................USMA 1999 Captain Corry P Tyler, U.S. Army..............................USMA 1999 First Lieutenant Leif E. Nott, U.S. Army......................USMA 2000 Captain Benjamin D. Tiffner, U.S. Army........................USMA 2000 First Lieutenant David R. Bernstein, U.S. Army................USMA 2001 Captain John L. Hallett III, U.S. Army........................USMA 2001 Captain Andrew R. Houghton, U.S. Army.........................USMA 2001 Captain Joe F. Lusk II, U.S. Army.............................USMA 2001 Captain Andrew R. Pearson, U.S. Army..........................USMA 2001 First Lieutenant Michael R. Adams, U.S. Army..................USMA 2002 First Lieutenant Todd Bryant, U.S. Army.......................USMA 2002 Captain Brian M. Bunting, U.S. Army...........................USMA 2002 Captain Mark A. Garner, U.S. Army.............................USMA 2002 Captain James M. Gurbisz, U.S. Army...........................USMA 2002 Captain Drew N. Jensen, U.S. Army.............................USMA 2002 First Lieutenant Kevin J. Smith, U.S. Army....................USMA 2002

Captain Torre R. Mallard, U.S. Army...........................USMA 2002 Captain Timothy J. Moshier, U.S. Army.........................USMA 2002 Second Lieutenant Leonard M. Cowherd, U.S. Army...............USMA 2003 First Lieutenant Derek S. Hines, U.S. Army....................USMA 2003 Captain Rhett W. Schiller, U.S. Army..........................USMA 2003 First Lieutenant Laura M. Walker, U.S. Army...................USMA 2003 First Lieutenant Garrison C. Avery, U.S. Army.................USMA 2004 First Lieutenant Benjamin T. Britt, U.S. Army.................USMA 2004 First Lieutenant Amos ``Camden'' R. Bock, U.S. Army...........USMA 2004 Captain Michael A. Cerrone, U.S. Army.........................USMA 2004 Captain John R. Dennison, U.S. Army...........................USMA 2004 Captain David M. Fraser, U.S. Army............................USMA 2004 Captain Paul W. Pena, U.S. Army...............................USMA 2004 First Lieutenant Robert A. Seidel III, U.S. Army..............USMA 2004 Captain Adam P. Snyder, U.S. Army.............................USMA 2004 Captain Daniel P. Whitten, U.S. Army..........................USMA 2004 First Lieutenant Dennis W. Zilinski, U.S. Army................USMA 2004 First Lieutenant Jonathan W. Edds, U.S. Army..................USMA 2005 First Lieutenant Matthew C. Ferrara, U.S. Army................USMA 2005 First Lieutenant Jacob N. Fritz, U.S. Army....................USMA 2005 First Lieutenant Thomas M. Martin, U.S. Army..................USMA 2005 First Lieutenant Phillip I. Neel, U.S. Army...................USMA 2005 Second Lieutenant Emily J. T. Perez, U.S. Army................USMA 2005 First Lieutenant Timothy W. Cunningham........................USMA 2006 First Lieutenant Nick A. Dewhirst, U.S. Army..................USMA 2006 Second Lieutenant Michael R. Girdano, U.S. Army...............USMA 2007 First Lieutenant Daniel B. Hyde, U.S. Army....................USMA 2007 First Lieutenant Tyler E. Parten, U.S. Army..................USMA 2007.

Notably, there are three from the class of 2007 so far in this campaign. So these are real patriots and these are young men and women who since the attacks--in fact, if you are at the academy and you go out to Lake Frederick and climb up on the hill and get on one of the old fire stands, you can see the outlines of New York City. And when I was there as a young man, you could see at that time the World Trade Center, which is no more.

West Point still inspires dedication, commitment, and young men and women who want to serve their country at a great institution of higher learning, being prepared to put their lives on the line in the defense of their country.

So I appreciate this time just to highlight what we do at West Point, but also at our other academies, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy--that is hard for me to say--Coast Guard Academy, Merchant Marine Academy. And we want to make sure that all our young men and women know that they have a great opportunity to serve their country, the best one being at West Point. And I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure that commitment to excellence continues for many years to come.

I thank my colleague for giving me the time.