[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 5 (Thursday, January 10, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H366-H367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ABBAS FAMILY MEMORIAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Michigan (Mrs. Dingell) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, today, I stand before this House 
heartbroken.
  This past weekend, tragedy struck our Dearborn community as we 
learned of the death of all five members of the Abbas family. They were 
killed by a drunk driver while driving back from a family vacation in 
Florida, and their loss has devastated our community in ways that you 
cannot imagine.
  In every sense of the word, they were our community. The parents were 
born and raised there. Rima served many as a respected doctor at 
Beaumont and had just been promoted to head all of the doctors at the 
hospital. And Issam had a successful career as a lawyer and real estate 
agent. Their children--Ali, age 13; Isabelle, age 12; and Giselle, age 
7--were gifts from God and the center of their parents' lives, and so 
many other families in Dearborn.
  Their family, their very extended family was devoted to everything 
that they did. Their absence stunned this community and is felt deeply 
and emotionally.
  Thousands attended one of the memorial services this week and then 
the funeral. Many in attendance chose to remember the good memories--
the smiles, the laughs, their careers, their deep connections to 
friends, neighbors, coworkers, classmates, and friends--but some came 
up to me and spoke very honestly. I was struck by the children and 
grown men who came up to me in tears, asking me why we hadn't done 
something to stop drunk driving.
  A young girl, a classmate, who will never see her friend again, had 
channeled her grief into research. She came up to me and asked why, 
when the technology exists, has Congress never done anything to mandate 
interlock breathalyzers to prevent this kind of senseless accident from 
ever happening again.

                              {time}  1030

  She wasn't alone.
  Elders in the community had also researched this subject, and the 
senior men, in their very deep way, asked me why nothing had been done, 
why weren't we using and mandating technology that would save lives. 
And I had no good answer.
  Too many lives across this country are taken because of drunk 
driving. In 2016, 10,497 people died in alcohol-impaired driving 
crashes. That is 28 percent of all traffic-related deaths.
  The young girl was right and the elders of the community were correct 
that technology does exist to stop drunk driving once and for all, and 
Congress has never had the will to take it on.
  I have to go home tomorrow to a community that is still grieving. I 
can't look them in the eye unless we are really willing to try to do 
something.
  This week I am introducing legislation in memory of the Abbas family 
that would mandate all new vehicles be equipped with interlock 
breathalyzer devices. This will stop intoxicated drivers from ever 
starting a vehicle and keep them off the roads.
  If we can keep one person from dying on the roads and make people 
think twice before getting behind the wheel when they shouldn't, even 
when they are buzzed and think they will be okay, then won't we have 
been successful?
  I know that some will say: ``This is too much of a burden. It won't 
work. Why should we have to do that?''
  Well, I am going to look them in the eye and tell them why no 
community should ever have to feel what our community is still feeling 
this week.
  I will work with all my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, and 
the auto industry to save lives. It is our moral imperative.
  Nothing will bring back the Abbas family, but their lives were too 
important to forget. Our community will deeply miss them, but we need 
to make sure that their death was not in vain. We must dedicate 
ourselves in their memory and those of others we know to try to prevent 
another life being lost this way senselessly.

[[Page H367]]

  

                          ____________________