mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. we are in a historic heat wave in this country. i'm talking about the debate on the debt limit, i'm talking about the temperature outside. what's noted is that many leaders throughout this country whether local mayors or governors are saying, if you're poor, get to a cooling shelter. if you're -- stay inside. stay in the air conditioning. well, we are fortunate in this country to have low-cost power. low-cost power generated by coal. in rural illinois the average salaries the average bill is $121 a month. which means they pay about $1,500 a year for utility cost. however in france, they pay 20 cents per kilowatt hour. just think what the cost would be here if we had to double our electricity rates. talk about how -- a burden on the poor and rural americans are when instead of $1,500 a year they would have to pay $3,000 a year just to seek relief from these hot winters. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek