John Dingell

John David Dingell, Jr. has been a Democratic member of the U. S. House of Representatives, representing a district in the working-class western suburbs of Detroit, Michigan since 1955 (currently the 15th district, map). Dingell is called "the Dean of House" because he is the longest serving member.

Iraq War
Dingell voted against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Marriage to auto industry lobbyist
John Dingell is married to Debbie Dingell, a lobbyist for Detroit-based General Motors. When they married Debbie switched to an administrative position at GM where her actions are overseen by a company lawyer. She stated, "Fortunately ... GM is large enough that I could change jobs." Debbie Dingell is the grand-daughter of the Fisher brothers, the founders of General Motors.

Contradiction over energy task force
On January 31, 2007, Dingell's letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding his objections to working with colleague Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to create a new energy task force was made public. The letter revealed contradictions from Dingell's earlier comments where he denied having any knowledge that such a task force was underway.

The issue of data security, which is important to senior Democrats on the Commerce Committee and Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.), Financial Services panel, has prompted Dingell’s response to the creation of a new energy task force. The idea to establish a new task force was formally introduced by Frank in his letter to Pelosi submitted on December 11, 2006.

In early January 2007, Dingell “created a stir” when he opposed the establishment of Frank’s idea for another energy task force. In the weeks following, he has tried to dispel the attention by denying such opposition when he publicly stated, “I haven’t said anything about it yet — I haven’t said anything at all.” “Frank mentioned something about this at a meeting and I made no comment whatsoever. I never knew it was any kind of formal discussion or offer or proposal or anything else.”

Dingell’s denial, however, contradicted the letter he sent to Pelosi two days after she received Frank’s letter formally suggesting the task force. 

House energy bill
On June 18, 2007, in a disagreement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over energy legislation, Dingell removed provisions from a draft energy bill in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that would have set new fuel efficiency standards and barred states from regulating vehicle emissions. Pelosi and many other Democrats opposed the language, as they did not want to prevent states like California from establishing their own higher emissions standards. Dingell stated that no agreement had been reached, claiming he made the changes in an effort to expedite the legislation, in an attempt by the House to pass the bill by July 4, hoping to declare it an "Energy Independence Day." He said he would still bring up the issue at a later date.

Gas tax
In a July 8, 2007 interview on C-SPAN, Dingell announced his intention to "propose a new carbon tax that would increase the gasoline tax by 50 cents." Acknowledging that voters might not be willing to bear the cost of such a tax to limit greenhouse gas emissions, he said he would introduce the measure “just to sort of see how people really feel about this.” In addition to the gas tax increase, Dingell’s new proposal would institute an additional tax on each ton of carbon dioxide emitted by automobiles and electric utilities.

War on Christmas
On December 15, 2005, Rep. Dingell read a poem on the floor of the House that was sharply critical of, among other things, Fox News, Bill O'Reilly and the so-called "War on Christmas".

Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007
In early July, 2007, House Democratic leaders planned to pass the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 (H.R. 2900) with bipartisan support. The bill, which was sponsored by Dingell, was a Food and Drug Administration overhaul measure that would reauthorize the agency’s program for approving new prescription drugs. It would also create new drug safety regulations, including larger fines for violators. The bill was put on the suspension calendar, which would require it to have a 2/3 vote to pass.Usually, bills considered under suspension of the rules have widespread support and are easily passed.

The NICS Improvement Act of 2007
The NICS Improvement Act of 2007 (H.R.297) is a gun control measure which was introduced in the House on January 5, 2007 by Dingell with co-sponsor Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.). It would amend the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 to require the head of each federal agency that has records relating to persons for whom receipt of a firearm would violate federal or state law to provide that information to the Attorney General for inclusion into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). In addition, it would require the agency, upon being made aware that the basis under which a record was made available no longer applies, to correct the record and notify the Attorney General and the the Secretary of Homeland Security. It would also have to make available to the Attorney General records relevant to a determination that a person is disqualified from possessing or receiving a firearm and information about a change in such person's status for removal from NICS, where appropriate.

The bill would also direct the Attorney General to make grants to states and Indian tribal governments to :


 * Establish or upgrade information and identification technologies for firearms eligibility determinations
 * Improve the automation and transmittal to federal and state record repositories of criminal history dispositions, records relevant to determining whether a person has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, court orders, and mental health adjudications or commitments.

The bill would require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics to study and evaluate NICS operations and to report annually to Congress and to specified states regarding best practices; and the Comptroller General to conduct an audit of the expenditure of all funds appropriated for criminal records improvement to determine how the funds were expended.

International solid waste importation and management act
In 2007, Rogers sponsored the International Solid Waste Importation and Management Act of 2007 (H.R. 518), which would amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to authorize states to restrict receipt of foreign municipal solid waste. The House passed the bill in April 24, 2007.

Scolding the Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) has responded to pressure from Rep. Dingell and other members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. During hearings held in March, the F.C.C. was scolded for failures in recent years. The F.C.C. botched handling of cable television franchising, created a backlog of unanswered consumer complaints and did nothing during various disputes between industry rivals.

See the Media, Telecommunications and Intellectual Property Policy Portal for more information.

Background
Dingell's father, John D. Dingell, Sr. (1894-1955), represented the same district from 1933 to 1955. The Dingells are of Polish descent, and together they have represented the heavily Polish western suburbs of Detroit for 72 years

Dingell was born July 8, 1926. He served in the United States Army during World War II, then attended Georgetown University and Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C., where he graduated with a J.D. in 1952. He worked as a Congressional employee, a forest ranger, and a prosecuting attorney for Wayne County until 1955, when John, Sr. died and John, Jr. won a special election to succeed him. He is married to Debbie Dingell, who is Executive Director, Public Affairs and Community Relations for General Motors and Vice Chairman of General Motors Foundation.

Congressional career
Dingell won the seat in his own right in 1956 and has been reelected every two years since. His district was called the 15th District 1955-1965, the 16th District 1965-2003, and the 15th District again since 2003. From 1981 until the Democrats lost control of the House in 1995, Dingell chaired the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and was regarded by analysts as one of the four or five most powerful members of the House. He is still the committee's ranking Democrat.

Dingell has always won reelection by double-digit margins, although the increasing conservatism of the white suburbs of Detroit since the 1970s has led to several serious Republican challenges in the 1990s. However, he has won his last two elections with over 70 percent of the vote. In 2002 he successfully defeated a challenge in the Democratic primary election from a slightly more liberal Democrat, Lynn Rivers. Redistricting by the Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature following the 2000 Census, had resulted in the two Democratic incumbents being placed into the same district.

2006 elections
No major candidates announced their intentions to contest Dingell’s seat in the November 2006 election. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006)

Positions and Legislation
Dingell is generally considered a liberal Democrat, and throughout his career he has been a leading congressional supporter of organized labor, social welfare measures and traditional progressive policies. At the beginning of every Congress, Dingell introduces a bill providing for a national health insurance system--the same bill that his father proposed while he was in Congress.

At the start of each Congress, Dingell has introduced legislation (H.R. 15 in the 110th Congress) which proposes a national health plan financed by value-added tax and the National Health Care Trust Fund. He continues to pursue a U.S. Patients' Bill of Rights. He personally favors a single-payer plan and government-run insurance program, but he followed the Clintons' proposal, managed competition, during the Clinton administration.

Dingell "was a primary force behind enactment of the National Wilderness Act, the Water Quality Act of 1965, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act of 1977, the Safe Drinking Water Amendments of 1986, and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Closer to home, he was also responsible for securing federal funds to clean up the Rouge River, said to be one of the dirtiest waterways in the nation, and to create the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge."

"He was an early and strong advocate of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and of Medicare, two of the most important pieces of legislation of the last century. He also played a key role on many smaller issues that affect everyone's daily life, like the creation of the National Do Not Call Registry for keeping telemarketers at bay."

On some issues he reflects the conservative values of his largely Catholic and working-class district. He was a supporter of the Vietnam War until 1971. Although he supported the Lyndon Johnson Administration's civil rights bills, he opposed campaigns to expand school desegregation to the Detroit suburbs via mandatory busing. He takes a moderately conservative position on abortion. He has voted against clean air bills if these appear to threaten Detroit's automobile industry. He is an avid sportsman and hunter, and he strongly opposes gun control, and is a former board member of the National Rifle Association.

On December 13, 2005, Dingell was honored at the White House with a Presidential lunch for his 50th Congressional anniversary.

Money in politics
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Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

 * House Committee on Energy and Commerce - Chair
 * Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
 * Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality
 * Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials
 * Subcommittee on Health
 * Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
 * Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * House Committee on Energy and Commerce - Ranking Minority Member

Resources

 * Official website
 * Campaign website
 * Dingell's account of his civil rights record
 * Rep. Dingell's poem, read on the floor of the House of Representatives on December 15
 * Technorati Search: John Dingell
 * Google News Search: John Dingell
 * Yahoo! News Search: John Dingell
 * Power Trips: How much did John Dingell travel?
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Michigan Liberal 15th CD Section

Articles

 * Charlie Cook, "Dingell's Towering 50 Years on Capitol Hill," National Journal, December 17, 2005.
 * "House Democrats Demand Accuracy in ABC 9/11 Film," HouseDemocrats.gov, September 6, 2006. re Reps. John Conyers, Jr., John Dingell, Jane Harman, and Louise Slaughter and "The Path to 9/11" (2006 Docudrama)
 * Neil Roland, "Dingell Promises Investigations When Democrats Take Over House," Bloomberg, November 26, 2006.
 * "Democrats say no liberal plans in next US Congress," Reuters AlertNet, November 26, 2006.
 * William Neikirk, "'Old bull' won't take any bull. Rep. John Dingell marks turf as renewed head of Energy and Commerce Committee," Chicago Tribune, November 27, 2006.
 * Amanda Griscom Little, "Dingell All the Way. Dingell and other Democrats plan oversight hearings on environmental issues," Grist, December 1, 2006.
 * Alexander Bolton, "Letter exposes Dingell," The Hill, January 31, 2007.
 * John M. Broder, "A Power Duo, Dingells Battle on Two Fronts", New York Times, November 15, 2008.
 * Coral Davenport, "Waxman Topples Dingell, Claims Gavel at House Energy and Commerce," CQ Politics, November 20, 2008.
 * John M. Broder and Carl Hulse, "Behind House Struggle, Long and Tangled Roots", New York Times, November 22, 2008.