Hoyer Honors Congressman John Dingell's Distinguished Service to Congress and Our Country

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor this evening during a Special Order Hour honoring Rep. John Dingell’s fifty-nine years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives. Below is a transcript of his remarks and a link to the video:

Click here for the video.

“Mr. Speaker, when this new House convenes on January 6, it will be the first in fifty-nine years not to include the distinguished Dean of this House, Mr. John Dingell of Michigan.  We will still have a Dingell from Michigan.  It will be his wife Debbie, whom so many of us in this House have come to know and admire.  I have worked with Debbie for every year that I’ve been in the Congress.  She won the election to succeed John and, surely, we will continue to have him in our midst as a Congressional spouse.  But he will be very, very sorely missed among the Members of this body, all of whom he welcomed to the House over the course of his service as the longest serving Member in the history of the Congress.

“A lot of people like to point to John's tenure in the House and note that when he came to Congress, Americans had Dwight Eisenhower as President; Brooklyn had a champion Dodgers baseball team; and Elvis Presley had his first gold record. But what I will point out is what did Americans not have.

“They did not have Medicare. Seniors were unprotected from the rising cost of health care in their golden years until John Dingell became their champion and introduced legislation that was the precursor to Medicare. And he presided over this House when it passed Medicare in 1965.

“Americans did not have the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act. When John Dingell took his first oath of office as a Member of this House, millions of African-Americans across the South could not vote for Representatives in this House.  Just four months after taking office, he bravely challenged the Eisenhower Administration’s leadership on civil rights. He rose in this chamber with great audacity to demand that the President protect those who were being denied their most fundamental rights as Americans.  It almost cost him his seat.  But all of us who know John understand why he was willing to risk everything for a cause that was just.

“Americans did not have the Clean Air [Act], the Clean Water Act or the Safe Drinking Water Act.  Nor did they have the Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act.  John realized before many of his contemporaries that if Congress did not act to protect our environment, future generations would inherit a nation spoiled by pollution and neglect.  So he became a crusader for conservation. 

“And the American people didn't have S-CHIP or the Affordable Care Act – S-CHIP being children’s health insurance. John Dingell fought his entire life in public office to make affordable, quality health care accessible to all who needed it.  In between his work to pass Medicare in 1965 and the enactment of health care reform in 2010, John Dingell successfully pushed for incremental progress that made the Affordable Care Act possible.  And when Leader Pelosi struck the gavel to signify the passage of that law, it was the same gavel that was used by John when he announced passage of the Medicare Act nearly fifty years before.

“I was proud to nominate John for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest civilian honor, and to be on hand last month as President Obama presented to him at the White House that Medal of Freedom.

“Let no one mistake John's legacy as one of simply longevity. Had he served nine terms and not twenty-nine, we would surely be here on this Floor to praise him as a man of vision, of principle, of courage, of achievement, and of a deep love for this country and its people – and for this institution. 

“I have had the privilege of serving with John in this House for thirty-three years. Throughout that time, he has been a dear friend, from whom I have learned much and with whom I have shared many memorable experiences, on and off this Floor.  John Dingell, my colleagues, has been and is a man of conviction.  He has embodied civility and he has worked in a bipartisan fashion.  His example is one that, if we follow it, would benefit the country and the House.

"As Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, John was instrumental in supporting a strong auto industry and jobs for America and measures to promote manufacturing here in this country. And Americans remember with gratitude his determined effort as Chairman to root out waste, fraud, and abuse across the government and save the taxpayers while improving how the government works.

“Seventy-three years ago this week, a young John Dingell Jr., then a House page, sat in this chamber, in which his father John Sr. served, while President Roosevelt delivered his famous speech, asking for a declaration of war as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on that ‘day of infamy.’  Four years later, while serving in the United States Army, Second Lieutenant John Dingell was preparing to invade Japan when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the War to an end – and, quite possibly, saving his life.  We're all grateful for that, that providence spared him so he could come to the People's House and do the people's work for fifty-nine years.

“We will miss him dearly. I will miss him, but I take comfort in knowing that he will still be here among us as a private citizen, as the husband of a new Member from Michigan’s Twelfth District, and as an elder statesman for our country, who I hope will always be ready to share the wisdom of his experience with those who will continue his work in this House. 

“John Dingell has been a great American, a citizen who loved his country and served it well. God bless you, John Dingell, and thank you.”