Federal incursions a deep concern to John Shimkus

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Rep. John Shimkus shared his views -- mostly negative -- on recent legislative happenings in Washington at the annual Workforce and Small Business Development Center legislative breakfast.

In an interview after the breakfast, Shimkus said the recently-passed energy bill that seeks to deal with climate change was probably a situation in which opponents, "Lost the battle but won the war." The climate change bill -- sometimes known as the "cap-and-trade" bill -- passed 219-212, with several Democrats defecting to the "no" voters. Its future is uncertain in the Senate.

Several Republicans have said the vote was a short-term setback, but could cause political fallout for Democrats who voted in the majority.

Shimkus characterized the energy bill as unprecedented energy rationing by the federal government.

The energy bill is just one part of what Shimkus sees as a reshaping of the federal government and its role. People in his age range are often startled by the unprecedented federal incursion into private enterprise, Shimkus said.

"None of us ever thought we'd see (government) ownership of banks and auto companies," Shimkus said.

The federal stimulus package has found its way to state agencies and private corporations more than infrastructure, Shimkus said. If half -- or even less -- of the $787 billion stimulus package were devoted to job-creating infrastructure projects like highway repair, sewer projects or grants to cities, "you would have had a strong bipartisan bill," Shimkus said.

Shimkus also decried discussion of a public health care plan as part of the overall health care reform debate taking place in Washington.

His speech wasn't the most uplifting presentation, Shimkus said, but the Collinsville conservative said he has to stand on his principles, even when his principles don't seem to be prevalent in Washington right now.

"And I believe that is the stand of most of the people in my district," Shimkus said.