[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 28132-28133]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING AND HONORING AN AMERICAN GIANT: CONGRESSMAN JOHN D. 
                              DINGELL, JR.

  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

[[Page 28133]]

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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