[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 149 (Tuesday, December 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H8922-H8925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICA: LAND OF LIBERTY
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Minnesota
(Mrs. Bachmann) for 30 minutes.
Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey
(Mr. Pallone).
Honoring Congressman John Dingell on His Retirement
Mr. PALLONE. I want to thank the gentlewoman and remind my colleagues
that we have a lot of speakers, so if you can limit your remarks, we
would appreciate it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee).
Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman.
Mr. Speaker, as a freshman, I have learned to be brief, and I will be
brief. Coming from Michigan and growing up in a political family and
actually succeeding my own uncle, Dale Kildee, in this seat, one would
think that Dale is the first Congressman that I really knew, but if you
are from Michigan and you were born any time after the middle of the
1950s, John Dingell is the first Congressman that we knew.
He was a strong voice for our State, and he was really the picture of
a Member of Congress for so many years. His longevity is obviously
remarkable, but it is what John did and stood for that is most
remarkable over his long tenure.
He first was a witness to history in this place when 73 years ago
this past Monday, his father was here and he was a page, he sat and
watched Franklin Roosevelt give that famous speech on December 7.
He made history in this body. I remember just a few months ago
watching on C-SPAN, as I do occasionally, and watching the signing of
the 1964 Civil Rights Act and watching John Dingell stand there and
receive a pen from President Johnson as that act was signed into law. I
sat with him the next day and discussed that time in our history and
realized what an amazing privilege I have been given to serve in the
same body with John Dingell.
He is a witness to history, and he made history, but more
importantly, for 59 years, John Dingell was on the right side of
history. Look at his record. Look at what he has stood for. He has
always been ahead of the rest of the country.
The one thing I do hope is that we can take a lesson from his service
and realize that there has been a time in this body when you can be a
strong and passionate voice, when you can hold to principle, but still
find ways to work across the partisan divide and find compromise and
get things done. That is the lesson of his legacy, and it is one that I
think we all have an obligation to try to live up to.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Georgia
(Mr. Bishop).
Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, you have heard that Representative John Dingell from
Michigan is the longest-serving Member of the House of Representatives
in the history of this institution. You have heard that he has been a
Member since 1955 and has held a seat in this body since President
Eisenhower sat in the White House.
You heard that exactly 1 day and 73 years ago, a young John Dingell,
then a page in the House, was standing in this very room when President
Roosevelt gave his declaration-of-war speech against Japan. He was a
page.
[[Page H8923]]
Needless to say, it has been a long road of public service for our
friend and colleague, John Dingell. A great defender of civil
liberties, John Dingell stood beside President Johnson as he signed the
Civil Rights Act of 1964. Over his illustrious career, he fought for
civil rights, for clean water, for Medicare, for American workers'
rights.
On a more personal note, he has always been helpful to me even when I
was just a wet-behind-the-ears freshman, and he shared his overflowing
reservoir of knowledge and wisdom about the history and customs of this
body and the workings of Congress. He will be missed.
Mr. Speaker, I will always remember and appreciate his character, his
integrity, and his courage in the fight for a better quality of life
for the American people.
A poet wrote:
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
by hand or mind in life's turmoil,
Who never had to earn his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow in ease:
The stronger winds, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The rougher the storm, the greater strength.
By wind or rain, by sun and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
John Dingell is good timber. Sir, you will be sorely missed. Thank
you for your service.
{time} 1745
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois
(Ms. Schakowsky).
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to join with many of my
colleagues in celebrating John Dingell and recognizing the many, many
things that he has achieved for our country. It is not just that John
Dingell has been the longest serving Member in history; it is what he
did in his 30 terms in the House. Many today will honor him for his
support of civil rights and voting rights, his lifelong support for
working men and women and their unions, for the environment and much,
much more. But for me, it is his passionate advocacy for national
health care.
I came to Congress with the number one priority of winning
affordable, quality, and comprehensive health care for all Americans. I
worked to join the Energy and Commerce Committee so that I could learn
from John Dingell, who has been called a legend in the fight for
universal coverage. Following in the footsteps of his father, a key
player in the passage of Social Security in 1935 and himself a strong
fighter for national health care, Chairman Dingell introduced the U.S.
National Health Insurance Act in his very first term, and he has been
fighting to make health care a right ever since.
John Dingell sat in that chair when we passed Medicare and Medicaid
and gaveled it into law. He pushed for the Patients' Bill of Rights. He
led the way as we created the Children's Health Insurance Program, and
he was a key reason we were able to pass the Affordable Care Act in
2010.
Because of John Dingell, today more than 120 million Americans have
access to health insurance in large part because of his leadership and
vision. I am so grateful to have had the privilege of serving with and
learning from John Dingell. I hope that we will follow his strong
legacy and continue to make improvements in health care so that we can
improve the lives and well-being of all Americans.
Thank you, John Dingell, for your unparalleled service to this
country.
Mr. PALLONE. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis).
Mr. LEWIS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues tonight to
honor my friend, my brother, the longest serving Member of Congress,
the Honorable John Dingell.
I had heard of Congressman Dingell long before I came to the House. I
knew he had followed in his father's footsteps on his path to public
service, that he was one of the youngest Members of Congress at the
time. But most important, I heard that he would stand up, speak out,
and fight for the issues of civil rights and social justice.
John Dingell is one of the most able and respected Members of this
body. Yes, he is the dean of the House of Representatives. He had the
capacity and the ability to say we have a right to know what is in the
food we eat, what is in the air we breathe, and what is in the water
that we drink.
He battled on the front lines for Medicare and Medicaid. He is the
only Member of Congress still serving today who voted for the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. He also helped win passage of the Voting Rights Act
of 1965.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that John Dingell is the
embodiment of a time when legislators did not hesitate to use the power
of the Federal Government to do good for all.
John, my friend, my brother, my colleague, thank you for your
service. Thank you for all of the good that you have done to make our
country and to make our world a better place.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California
(Mr. Garamendi).
Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
As a new insurance commissioner in California in 1991, I had lots of
problems with pensions, a lot of problems with insurance companies
going broke. I was summoned to Washington to appear before the Commerce
Committee to explain. I had great fear in my mind. The very famous John
Dingell was chairing that committee. But I very quickly realized his
goal and mine were the same, that is, to find ways to protect people. A
deep friendship then ensued for many years.
My mentor is leaving this session. I will miss him. I know that
everybody in this House will miss him in many ways. He is a good man.
His heart is as big as this Nation which he has worked so hard for.
John Dingell, a great, great Member of Congress.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank the gentlewoman from
Minnesota for yielding us extra time.
Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, it was a privilege to yield to the
gentleman from New Jersey on behalf of our colleague who set a
historical record of serving this Chamber and the people of his
district so well for 60 years.
And it is a privilege for me now also, Mr. Speaker, to be in this
well to deliver what is my last speech on this floor.
It has been the privilege and the honor of a lifetime for me to serve
as a Member of the United States Congress, serving as the first woman
ever elected from the State of Minnesota in the capacity of being a
Republican. It is an honor, and it is the ride of a lifetime. As I
stand here in the well of this House, I am so filled with joy and so
much happiness in understanding that the privilege I have is one of
being really a link on a chain that has gone on for hundreds of years.
I stand right here on the soil, in the square feet that are the
freest square feet in the world because you see, Mr. Speaker, it is
here where any voice that holds an election certificate can speak forth
the words, words that maybe a President of the United States would
vehemently agree with, disagree with, words that maybe colleagues from
one's own party and the opposing party may vehemently disagree with,
words that in some sense might incent people to anger or to even riot
in some cases, but words, nonetheless, that are free--free, free--
because a price was paid so that speech could be given. It is an honor.
Where else could we find this level of freedom anywhere in the world?
That is why at the very top of this Capitol on the rotunda dome
standing a full 20 feet tall is a statute called ``Freedom.'' It is a
woman, and her name is Freedom. She stands as the uppermost point in
this part of our Nation's Capital. She faces east because she faces
toward the sunrise so that every day Freedom's face looks into the
morning sun, and, happily, we begin yet one more day of liberty in this
country.
You see, I am so proud to be a part of this Nation. I am so proud to
be an American citizen because I recognize the costs of my freedom, the
price that was paid for it by those who have gone before. I am so
thrilled to have this opportunity.
Just behind me, Mr. Speaker, above where you are standing, is our
Nation's motto. It says, ``In God We Trust.'' What a fabulous motto.
Could any better motto be written for any nation to
[[Page H8924]]
declare full voiced that it is in God that we as a nation put our
trust? What other more trustworthy venue could there be? What other
trustworthy vehicle could there be than a holy God?
You see, it is not just today that we mouth these words. These words
were mouthed by the Founders of our country, those who decided to leave
the comforts of their home to come here to what was essentially an
untested, untapped world where there were people, the Native Americans
who populated this land, but where a brand-new culture was about to be
born, one that would be again the fulcrum to bless the entire world,
where people would know that they could come from any portion of the
world and find freedom as individuals, but also as a nation.
We have so much to be thankful for, so much to be grateful for. For
many people who have never had the privilege of being in this House
Chamber before, this is the room where the laws of our Nation are
formulated. Our Founders meant that the House of Representatives would
be the most powerful form of government. Why? Because it would be these
435 Members that we eventually became would hold the power of the
purse. We would hold the Nation's credit card. It would be up to us to
decide what we spent money on and what we didn't. We would formulate
policy for what is now some 300 million-plus American people.
We are the lawgivers because the people of this country have given us
the privilege of the election certificate to make the laws. We must
never forget that it is by the consent of the governed that we rule and
that we decide our laws.
As I look about this Chamber, we are ringed with the silhouettes of
lawgivers throughout history--Hammurabi, various lawgivers throughout
all of time, lawgivers for whom veneration is required. And yet only
one lawgiver has the distinction of not having a silhouette but having
the full face be revealed by the artist. That lawgiver is Moses. Moses
is directly above the double doors that lead into the centermost part
of this Chamber. In the face of Moses, his eyes look straight upon not
only our Nation's motto, ``In God We Trust,'' but Moses' face looks
full on into the face of the Speaker of the House.
Daily the Speaker of the House, as he stands up in his authority and
in his podium, recognizes that he, too, is a man under authority, just
as Moses was a man under authority. Because you see, Mr. Speaker, Moses
is given for the full honor as the greatest lawgiver in this Chamber
because he was chosen by the God that we trust to be entrusted with the
basis of all law. The basis of all law, as was written by Blackstone,
the famous English jurist, was the Ten Commandments that were given by
none other than the God we trust on Mount Sinai. We know those laws.
Those laws are the fundamental laws of mankind. And here in the United
States, the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses are the very
foundation of the law that has given the happiness and the rise of the
greatest prosperity that any nation has known before.
Mr. Speaker, it could be no coincidence that this Nation, knowing and
enjoying the heights of such great happiness and such great prosperity,
could be built upon that foundation of the Ten Commandments and of the
law given by the God in whom we trust. What a privilege we have been
given. What an unparalleled foundation. We have so much to be grateful
for and thankful for.
Before I continue my remarks, I want to also say thank you to people
in their individual capacity who have done so much to help me in my
service in the House of Representatives. I want to thank, first of all
and most importantly, the people of the Sixth Congressional District of
Minnesota who thought enough of my campaign to give me the election
certificate that I have been privileged to hold for these four terms
that I have served in office for 8 years. Had the people of the Sixth
Congressional District not elected me to service, I would have never
known what a privilege it would be to serve them here in this Chamber.
I thank the great people of the Sixth District. It is known as Lake
Wobegon country, the greatest people in this country as far as I am
concerned--people where all of the men are good looking and the
children are above average. It is a State unlike any other, and I am
privileged to have served.
I also want to thank the many numerous volunteers who worked on my
campaigns to send me here. Without their tireless work stuffing
envelopes and serving on the campaigns and making phone calls, it never
would have happened.
{time} 1800
I was a homemaker at home with our family. I had been a Federal tax
litigation attorney. I had had the privilege of starting a charter
school. My husband and I started our own company, but I was essentially
nobody from nowhere, and because people believed in me, they elected
me, and they brought me here. I want to thank again the people of the
Sixth District and the volunteers who sent me here.
I also want to thank the donors who very generously gave their money
also so that I could be here. I had very hard-fought campaigns. I was
often the top nemesis for the opposite political party in election
after election, and millions of dollars were spent to make sure that I
would not have the privilege of standing in the well of this House.
I want to thank those who gave me the money to be able to come and
who sacrificed so that I could be here. Over the years my races were so
expensive that at one point mine was the most expensive race in the
country. That was done on an average donation of $41 per donation.
Millions and millions of dollars with an average donation of $41.
I am so proud of that because real people across the United States
saw in me an authentic, credible voice who was here to speak for them.
I had people all across the country who said to me, Michele, thank you,
you speak for me, and I am so thankful that you have fought for me here
in Washington.
They knew that I wasn't here to speak for special interests. They
knew that I wasn't bought and paid for. They knew that I was speaking
for them. I want to say for those that did donate money to my
campaigns, I am the same person today as I was when I came here 8 years
ago, and I fought for you and for the values that you sent me here to
fight for.
I also want to say thank you to the God who saved me. I am so
grateful to the Holy God who created us, the Creator God, the God that
Jefferson pointed to in the Declaration of Independence. It is because
of Him and because He created me in His image and likeness, as He has
each one of us, that I even have the possibility of coming here to be
able to serve.
I also thank my parents, my father, who has passed away. I thank my
mother, Jean LaFave, and my stepfather, Ray LaFave, for their love and
their support over the years as well. I am thankful to my brothers,
David and Gary and Paul, and my stepbrothers and my stepsisters.
I am thankful to my husband of 36 years, Marcus; to our five
wonderful children, Lucas, and his wife, Christine; Harrison, Elisa,
Caroline, and Sophia; and also to our wonderful 23 foster children whom
we were privileged to raise over the years. As I often joke, yes, I am
the old woman in the shoe. I have raised 28 children, and I am so
grateful for each one of them.
I am thankful for my very dear friends over the years who prayed for
me and stood by me and helped me to get to this position, to my
supporters from the great State of Minnesota, and most particularly to
the prayer warriors. The very first committee that we formed every time
I ran for political office was our prayer committee, and I thank you to
the intercessors who prayed routinely for me. Those prayers I believe
were answered.
I also say thank you to the men and women who serve today in our
Armed Forces. It was the privilege of a lifetime for me to go and
travel across the world to Iraq, to Afghanistan, to Germany, and
various places around the world where I was able to meet you in your
service, and I thank you for allowing me to meet you there.
I say thank you to our veterans who have gone before. You know how
near and dear you are to my heart. I am the daughter of a veteran,
stepdaughter of a veteran, sister of a veteran, and I am so grateful
because I recognize we would not be here today if it wasn't for our
veterans, and I thank you for your
[[Page H8925]]
service to our country because you answered the call.
I want to also say thank you to my staff:
My longest-serving staff member, Kim Rubin, who came with me on day
one and who has served me every single day so superbly as my scheduler.
There is no one quite like her, and I have absolutely no idea how I
will order my life once I leave here without Kim Rubin.
I say thank you to my chief of staff, Robert Boland, who has stepped
in and done a wonderful job with our well organized machine in our
office. He makes it a joy for everyone in our office to serve.
I say thank you to my press communications director, Dan Kotman, who
has done such a wonderful job every day challenging me to make sure
that I can be as good as I can and to keep me from making the mistakes
that I am all too prone to make;
For Mikayla Hall, who keeps me on the current edge in absolutely
everything that she does, with a brilliant career in front of her;
For Renee Doyle, my dear longtime friend and legislative director,
who has a heart of gold and who has served tirelessly in every form of
her capacity;
For Jason Frye, Sergeant Frye, who has served our Nation as a veteran
but who now will be a legislative director for my successor, and he
will do a wonderful job serving.
For Kevin Wysocki, who has served me so well. I thank him, Mr.
Speaker, for the brilliant, high-quality man of integrity that he is;
For Jessica Cahill, who has always been there to serve me in every
possible capacity that she was asked to do;
For our intern Julie; for our district director Deb Steiskal, who has
been so faithful to me during my time in service; for Barbara Harper,
who has been with me through thick and thin through 16 years of
activism and political life; for Nicole Severson Pelzer, who serves our
veterans; for Karen Miller, who will continue to serve our district.
I am so grateful for the Capitol Police, for all that they have done
to secure my safety; for the Sergeant at Arms; for our chaplains; our
Bible study leaders; for the Clerk's Office.
I want to give a special shout-out to James, who runs the railroad
car in the basement of the Rayburn Building. James has become a
wonderful friend, a man of God, and we literally have tears in our eyes
when we are saying good-bye to each other in these last days. He has
brought joy to my heart, and I thank him as well as I thank Maria, who
stands right out here outside the door. She has to fetch me all the
time because I am usually the last one in the Chamber, trying to get
more business done, and Maria says it is time to go, Congresswoman, and
I thank God for Maria and what a darling that she has been.
I am grateful for the committee staff from the Financial Services
Committee, on which I have been privileged to serve for 8 years, for
the committee staff on the Intel Committee. No one knows how hard they
work and what a vital service they play to our Nation.
I am grateful for Bonnie, the elevator lady, who is always so happy.
I am grateful for the two ladies at our lunch counter back in the
cloakroom, to Ms. Pat and Ms. Doris. You are such good cooks, you make
wonderful sandwiches, and I always knew that if I was short $2, you
would see me through to the next day. So thank you for believing in my
creditworthiness.
More than anything, I want to say thank you to the Founders of this
Nation, who gave us the most incredible ride by believing in us and in
our future, by recognizing that these truths are self-evident, that all
men and all women are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator
with certain inalienable rights, that among those rights are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
What that means to me is this: no government gave me rights that only
God can give, and no government can take away the rights that only God
can give. The only reason that we even have a government and the only
reason it was instituted among men is to secure for me and for you the
rights that God gave us: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Beyond that, we rule by the consent of the governed.
This is a pretty simple gig to figure out here. There are things that
government can't touch. Would that we would learn that. But there are
things that we do, and those things that we do should be for the
happiness of mankind. You see, it is our job not to think only of
ourselves, but to think of the generations that are yet to come.
My favorite Americans are people who didn't know they were Americans.
They were the Pilgrims. They came here before our Nation was founded. I
love the story that was written by Governor Bradford. He wrote in his
journal, which I have read in the King's English multiple times. The
Pilgrims are one of my favorite groups of people.
Governor Bradford wrote that with the sorrow and the sacrifice that
the Pilgrims made--you know, the very first year when they came over,
fully half of them died in that first starving winter. Governor
Bradford wrote that it was worth it all because the Pilgrims saw
themselves, in his words, as stepping stones. He said they willingly
laid down their lives and sacrificed themselves because they looked
into the future, Mr. Speaker, and they saw you, and they saw me, and
they saw all of the American generations that would come after them,
and they saw what a marvelous land filled with natural resources, the
ability to have freedom, a completely new covenant, a completely new
promise that we could make with the future and with the God that we
trust.
We could have here a brand new, ordered experiment in liberty, and we
did. The generations benefited, and our generation has benefited like
nothing before. And that is what we too must do.
As I wind down my remarks, I say thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you
that I could have that privilege of also being a stepping stone to look
to the future so that the next generation would live better than we do
today. Thank you for the privilege.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________