Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) on Monday said he would not reverse his decision to retire, even with the opportunity to take the top Republican spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Shimkus said last week he would reconsider his Aug. 30 announcement that he would not seek re-election in 2020 after Energy and Water Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) on Oct. 28 announced his own retirement at the end of his current term.
The Illinois lawmaker, first elected in 1996, is currently the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce environment and climate change subcommittee. There was talk last week that he could take on that role for the full committee in the next Congress, or even be elevated to chairman should Republicans regain the House majority.
“I was asked by local Republicans, party leaders in Washington, DC, and a bipartisan group of rank and file House members to reconsider my retirement,” Shimkus said in a prepared statement. “I was honored by their outreach. In response to their lobbying, I promised to seriously consider the request, which I did last week in DC and this past weekend at home.”
Shimkus said he considered the ‘pros and cons” of staying in Congress and determined he would not return for another campaign. He did not offer additional detail regarding his thinking.
“I look forward to finishing the 116th Congress with my colleagues,” Shimkus stated. “Despite all the angst displayed daily, members of the committee are working diligently on some bipartisan compromises. If we are successful, they could very well find their way to the President’s desk for his signature.”
Shimkus has been perhaps the lead proponent in Congress for resuming the frozen licensing for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The Obama administration defunded the proceeding a decade ago, and the Trump administration has failed in several attempts to secure new appropriations from Capitol Hill.
