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)
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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for from Michigan for holding this Special Order, this well-deserved Special Order.
I have had the privilege of serving on the Energy and Commerce Committee for 30 years with Mr. Dingell, and I have seen him through three energy crises, two Clean Air Acts, a complete rewrite of the 1934 Communications Act, the creation of Super Fund, on and on and on and on. And he is, without question, going to go down as one of the great congressmen who have ever served in the history of this institution.
And I am not going to go through the entire litany, but what I am going to do is, because I had a front-row seat all those years, and these years continue, and what I am about to describe to the Members continues even this week in the Energy and Commerce Committee, I am just going to take the Members back through time and give them some idea of what happens on our committee on a regular basis because, before JOHN DINGELL was elected to Congress, he was an assistant District Attorney in the State of Michigan where he learned many skills, including the art of inducing recalcitrant witnesses into cooperating. Some of my most memorable moments as his colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee have occurred as an observer of this talent, judiciously but forcefully applied, to those who over the years have accepted invitations to give testimony on one subject or another before the Energy and Commerce Committee. I have kept a little list of some of the more effective rhetorical gambits, verbal jabs, crosses and haymakers that tend to leave the witness to whom they are directed a little stunned just as he or she is being called upon to respond.
I have culled the list to bring some of the best, which I humbly share with the Members tonight as we celebrate a public life whose tenure in service is as long as its beneficial impact on America is wide and deep.
Mr. Speaker, I give you the top ten JOHN DINGELL hearing questions that mean you are in real trouble.
Number ten: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Number nine: Would the gentleman yield for a few questions, as I am trying to better understand where the witness is going, what the witness is saying?
Number eight: Does the very distinguished gentleman know how much affection and respect that I have for him?
Number seven: Perhaps if I direct a few questions to the distinguished majority counsel, we might be able to shed a little light on the gentleman's proposal.
Number six: Is the witness at all familiar with the Tucker Act?
Number five: I hear what you are saying, but what are you telling me?
Number four: That is an excellent answer but not to the question that I asked.
Number three: I am just a poor Polish lawyer. Perhaps you could help explain a few things to me?
Number two: Did you happen to know that my father wrote that law?
And the number one JOHN DINGELL hearing question that means that you are in real trouble: Did you know that I wrote that law?
Mr. Speaker, one of the great congressmen of all time is being honored on his 50th but not by far his last year in this institution. May he stay here forever.
I thank all here for honoring this gentleman tonight. And I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for holding this Special Order.
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