Recognizing and Honoring an American Giant: Congressman John D. Dingell, Jr.

RECOGNIZING AND HONORING AN AMERICAN GIANT: CONGRESSMAN JOHN D. DINGELL, JR. -- (House of Representatives - December 13, 2005)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. HOYER. Our friend, Mr. Dingell. Mr. Speaker, tonight there will only be unanimous bipartisan agreement on this House floor. Tonight, the Members of this body, both Democrats and Republicans, our Speaker and our Democratic leader join together to recognize the extraordinary and many accomplishments of a great Member of this House. And to honor that service to our Nation we honor an American giant: The Dean of the House, our colleague from the State of Michigan, Congressman JOHN DINGELL, Jr.

This day, December 13, 2005, marks Chairman DINGELL's 50th anniversary as a Member of this great body, the people's House. The people are proud of JOHN DINGELL and rightfully so. He is the third longest serving Member in the history of this institution. That means he has survived a long time. And, frankly, 50 years of service is itself something that ought to be honored, but JOHN DINGELL is deserving of honor for much more than longevity.

As I can attest, Congressman Dingell shows no signs of slowing down. Only Jamie Whitten of Michigan, with whom I served on the Appropriations Committee, with 53 years and 10 months of service, and Carl Vinson, the great Representative of Georgia, with 50 years and 2 months of service have served longer. JOHN DINGELL will surpass, God willing, both of those.

Just consider that during the last half century Congressman Dingell has searched under 10 presidents. No, that is wrong. JOHN DINGELL serves under no one. JOHN DINGELL has served with 10 Presidents. He has cast nearly 22,000 rollcall votes. In fact, one-fourth of the Members who serve here today, 107 Members to be precise, were born after JOHN DINGELL came to the Congress of the United States.

However, no one should be mistaken. As notable as the length of Congressman Dingell's tenure is, it is eclipsed by his truly remarkable record of substantive legislation over the last five decades on behalf of his people, on behalf of the people of Michigan, on behalf of the people of this country.

JOHN DINGELL, my constituents, are proud of your service and thankful for your contributions. You have made their lives better. You have made the Chesapeake Bay better. You have made Maryland better. In serving Michigan, you have served us all.

Many of the most important pieces of legislation, on health care, as Leader Pelosi pointed out and as Speaker Hastert pointed out, on the environment and on workers and consumers rights bear JOHN DINGELL's strong imprint, and a significant number of these bills were written by him.

Examples: The 1990 Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Children's Health Insurance Program, the Mammography Quality Standards Act. And he is still fighting for a real Patients Bill of Rights. We should have passed and enacted JOHN DINGELL's Patients Bill of Rights a few years ago. That would have indeed been a testimonial that would have been worthy of his service.

In addition, Congressman Dingell halls helped craft legislation on issues ranging from telecommunications to drinking water quality, and blocked proposals such as electric utility deregulation that he opposed. Said Senator CARL LEVIN of Michigan, ``he has a role in almost every major legislative effort to help average families,'' working Americans, and his fellow citizens.

And when it comes to effective, tenacious congressional oversight Congressman Dingell has demonstrated that he has few peers. He has fought to ensure that the intent of the laws were carried out and that tax dollars were spent properly. He wanted to invest, but he wanted that investment to be honest, he wanted that investment to be effective, and he wanted that investment to be carefully husbanded.

The work of his Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations led to the firing of the Superfund administrator, the discovery of a defense contractor who charged the Pentagon for boarding a dog, and improper billing practices by universities for research expenses.

I had a 15-minute interview with a reporter from USA Today and, unfortunately, she took two words that I said. I said, yes, JOHN DINGELL is a wonderful man. She said, well, I hear he's pretty tough. I said, he can be sometimes gruff and intimidating. He has intimidated me sometimes. But the vast majority of my comments were about his caring for his fellow human beings, his love for Debbie, and indeed the love and respect and honor that he gives to every one of his colleagues, realizing that they too have been chosen by their constituents to serve in this people's House. The people's House is a greater place, this country is a greater country, the people are a richer people because of the service of JOHN DINGELL.

God bless you, JOHN DINGELL, and thank you.

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