Full Text of HR1054 95th General Assembly
HR1054 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, J. Dennis Hastert was born in Aurora, Illinois, on | 3 |
| January 2, 1942, but is a true son of Kendall County, Illinois, | 4 |
| having grown up in Oswego, which was a farm town in the time of | 5 |
| his youth; the "Denny" who became a familiar figure to | 6 |
| television audiences around the world started out as a carrier | 7 |
| of 100-pound feed bags for the agricultural supply business | 8 |
| that his family owned and operated; and
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| WHEREAS, The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert is both a teacher | 10 |
| and a maker of history, having served as both an instructor of | 11 |
| history at Kendall County's Yorkville High School and as the | 12 |
| longest-serving Republican Speaker in the annals of the United | 13 |
| States House of Representatives; and
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| WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert's service to Yorkville High as both | 15 |
| a teacher and a coach culminated when he successfully mentored | 16 |
| the "Foxes" to their wrestling State championship in 1975-1976, | 17 |
| and was named the Illinois Wrestling Coach of the Year; and
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| WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert has since been elevated to the | 19 |
| Illinois Wrestling Coaches' Hall of Fame; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, As a community leader, Dennis Hastert was a | 21 |
| natural choice by his Aurora-based district to be one of their |
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| three State representatives in November of 1980; and
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| WHEREAS, In his three terms in the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives, Dennis Hastert served alongside legislators | 4 |
| such as Michael J. Madigan, Barbara Flynn Currie, Tim Johnson, | 5 |
| and Ron Stephens, rising to the position of minority | 6 |
| spokesperson on the Appropriations II Committee; and
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| WHEREAS, While on course to what would have been his | 8 |
| unopposed election to a fourth term in the Illinois House in | 9 |
| 1986, Dennis Hastert was selected by his fellow local | 10 |
| Republican Party leaders as a substitute candidate to replace | 11 |
| the Honorable John E. Grotberg, congressman from Illinois's | 12 |
| Fourteenth District, after tragic health concerns forced | 13 |
| Grotberg to relinquish his nomination for re-election to | 14 |
| Congress; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, In November of 1986, the Honorable J. Dennis | 16 |
| Hastert was elected by the people of northern Illinois to | 17 |
| represent them in the 100th Congress, and Coach Hastert was | 18 |
| himself coached as a freshman representative by his | 19 |
| predecessor, John Grotberg, and Grotberg's staff, by his | 20 |
| Illinois Republican colleague and mentor, Robert Michel of | 21 |
| Peoria, by his Illinois Republican colleague, Ed Madigan of | 22 |
| Lincoln, and by many other Congressmen and women from both | 23 |
| political parties; and
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| WHEREAS, When Dennis Hastert entered Congress, the United | 2 |
| States House of Representatives had been controlled for more | 3 |
| than thirty years by a Democratic majority, but in November of | 4 |
| 1994, the American people selected Republican candidates to | 5 |
| serve in the majority and organize the House of Representatives | 6 |
| in the 104th Congress; and
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| WHEREAS, As a member of both the minority and the majority | 8 |
| parties in Congress, Dennis Hastert served on the House Energy | 9 |
| and Commerce Committee and specialized in the issues of job | 10 |
| creation and economic growth; and | 11 |
| WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert worked with members of both | 12 |
| political parties on concerns of the Chicago metropolitan area, | 13 |
| including the health of Chicago's financial futures and | 14 |
| derivatives markets, long-term growth plans for Chicago's | 15 |
| O'Hare International Airport, and the cleanup of the thorium | 16 |
| dumpsite in West Chicago, which was, at one time, the second | 17 |
| largest radioactive waste site in the United States; and
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| WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert worked on many issues of national | 19 |
| and international importance, including the development of | 20 |
| alternative energy sources and bio-fuels, the War on Drugs, and | 21 |
| American health care; and
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| WHEREAS, Congressman Hastert served as Chairman of the | 2 |
| Congressional Anti-Drug Task Force; and | 3 |
| WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert headed the legislative effort that | 4 |
| mediated between disparate interests and developed and passed | 5 |
| the federal Patients' Bill of Rights; and
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| WHEREAS, Coach Hastert impressed his Republican colleagues | 7 |
| with his grasp of national policy issues, his friendliness, and | 8 |
| his emotional connection with the concerns of the American | 9 |
| heartland; in December of 1998, his colleagues chose the | 10 |
| Honorable J. Dennis Hastert to lead their caucus as their | 11 |
| Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in the | 12 |
| 106th Congress; and
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| WHEREAS, It fell upon Speaker Dennis Hastert to lead | 14 |
| America's House of Representatives on September 11, 2001; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, During the traumatic days immediately after 9/11, | 16 |
| Dennis Hastert presided over a House of Representatives in | 17 |
| which partisan concerns were temporarily submerged into a | 18 |
| common desire to respond to the crisis as a united nation and a | 19 |
| unified body of lawmakers, with many key items of | 20 |
| ground-breaking legislation passed that reflected this | 21 |
| national perspective; and
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| WHEREAS, During and after those unforgettable days, | 2 |
| Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was a familiar figure on | 3 |
| television screens across the world in his role as the | 4 |
| presiding officer of the House when it is addressed by national | 5 |
| leaders and heads of state, including the President of the | 6 |
| United States when delivering the annual State of the Union | 7 |
| Address and special addresses to Congress; and
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| WHEREAS, America's Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, | 9 |
| presided over the federal House of Representatives through four | 10 |
| biennial congressional terms, covering the 106th, 107th, | 11 |
| 108th, and 109th Congresses, a longer period of service than | 12 |
| any other Speaker from the Republican Party; and | 13 |
| WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert has announced his desire to resume | 14 |
| his career as an educator by leading the creation of the J. | 15 |
| Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public | 16 |
| Policy at Wheaton College, the college from which he graduated | 17 |
| in 1964; and
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| WHEREAS, "Denny" Hastert, during his momentous time of | 19 |
| national leadership, has been sustained by his connections to | 20 |
| the people of northern Illinois, and above all by his personal | 21 |
| faith; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE |
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| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 2 |
| acknowledge the contributions of the Honorable J. Dennis | 3 |
| Hastert as an esteemed former member of the Illinois House of | 4 |
| Representatives, as a Congressman, and as the four-time elected | 5 |
| Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and be | 6 |
| it further
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| RESOLVED, That we thank Jean Kahl Hastert, the wife of the | 8 |
| Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, and Speaker Hastert's two sons, | 9 |
| Joshua Hastert and Ethan Hastert, for their support of "Denny" | 10 |
| Hastert during the traumatic times that surrounded his period | 11 |
| of national responsibility; and be it further | 12 |
| RESOLVED, That we never forget that a native son of | 13 |
| Illinois was on hand to help guide our nation through these | 14 |
| years of grave crisis; and be it further | 15 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this Preamble and | 16 |
| Resolution be presented to the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert in | 17 |
| remembrance of his years of State and national service.
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