About John Shimkus

John M. Shimkus of Collinsville, Illinois, is serving his sixth term in Congress representing the 19th District. He won his first election to what was then the 20th District by a narrow margin in 1996 over State Representative Jay Hoffman. In his election to the new 19th District in 2002, John defeated fellow Congressman David Phelps by ten percentage points. All of his other elections have been by margins around 20 percent.

The 19th District is large geographically, containing all or parts of 30 counties. It stretches from the state capital of Springfield at the north to Metropolis, across the Ohio River from Paducah, Kentucky, at the south and from the Congressman's hometown of Collinsville, a St. Louis suburb, at the west to near the Indiana border at the east. The district is conservative by nature, which fits John's voting pattern.

John served as Madison County Treasurer before being elected to Congress. Before that he was a teacher at Metro East Lutheran High School in Edwardsville, Illinois. John's first elected position was as a Collinsville Township Trustee.

John is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served as an Army infantry officer nearly six years in the former West Germany and at various bases here. He is currently a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserves. He has also earned his MBA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

At his last duty station in California, he met his future wife Karen. He returned to Illinois to begin teaching. He and Karen were married in 1987 when she moved to Collinsville. John and Karen have three sons - David, Joshua, and Daniel. They reside in Collinsville. John serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is the ranking Republican on the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials. He also serves on the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee and the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee.

John is honored to be the Senior Republican representative from the United States to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Among his colleagues John serves as co-chairman of the House Baltic Caucus and the Congressional E-911 Caucus.

In his first year in office, John was featured in a PBS documentary, "Mr. Shimkus Goes to Washington." The program featured him traveling in the District, to and from Washington, and the affects of this hectic lifestyle on his young family.

John has had a very successful legislative career when it comes to getting legislation passed and signed into law considering his short time in Washington.

In 1998 John's legislation changed our nation's alternative fuel policy from one of vehicles purchased to one of actual fuel usage. This pro-biodiesel provision continues to aid farmers, protect our environment, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. 

In 1999 President Clinton signed into law John's legislation designating 9-1-1 as the nation's universal emergency phone number. And in 2000 the President signed the TREAD Act into law that increased federal oversight of automobile tire problems, which included John's language increasing testing of child car safety seats.

John assisted in getting legislation signed into law in 2002 that would bring fairness to the Superfund program by exempting innocent small businesses from being sued.

And on December 4, 2002, John participated in two bill signings at the White House. President Bush signed into law John's legislation establishing a dot kids dot us Internet domain safe for young children and a law that will establish safety guidelines for booster seats for children in motor vehicles.

In 2003 John was again successful in having two of his bills signed into law. One law allows a hydroelectric facility at Carlyle Lake to continue in the planning stages, and the other law allows funds to be spent on an information clearinghouse on defibrillator placement in schools.

John was instrumental in the energy bill signed by President Bush in 2005. He gets particular credit for the increase in the renewable fuel standard (RFS) to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012.  This legislation has been the primary engine to excite ethanol production in Illinois.  John has also been a staunch defender of coal. 

John has received hundreds of awards over the years from a diverse group of organizations. He routinely travels the district and participates in open office hours, where constituents can meet with him one-on-one.