John Dingell - Ann Arbor

Revision 4 (Aug. 3, 2007, 9:05 a.m. by None)

John D. Dingell, Jr. (July 8, 1926 - ) is currently the Dean (longest-serving member) of the US House of Representatives. He is the 2nd longest serving Representative ever and the 4th longest serving Congressman ever. Since 1955, he has represented a district that was first in Detroit but has succesivly moved further into Detroit's western suburbs, currently the 15th congressional district of the state of Michigan. The 15th district includes Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and the rest of eastern Washtenaw County, as well as Dearborn, Taylor, Romulus, and Monroe.

With the Democrats' victory in the 2006 midterm elections, Dingell again became chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a panel he previously chaired from 1981 to 1995. His position as the senior member of the house and as Chair of this committee give him significant power - power which is being displayed in the summer of 2007 as a showdown with Congressional leadership. With the Democratic Congress attempting to take action on climate change, Dingell has opposed proposed increases in vehicle fuel efficiency standards, proposing a weaker increase; at the beginning of August, he stands at danger of House leadership sidestepping his committee entirely on the fuel efficiency issue.

Dingell's hesitance to embrace stronger fuel efficiency standards stems from his historic political base in manufacturing unions, which fear than higher standards will only exacerbate their downward employment trend. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, however, estimates that the increased standards will actually increase Big 3 profitability by $12b. over 2008-2017, actually helping local autoworkers.

Official House web site: http://www.house.gov/dingell/
Campaign web site: http://www.dingellforcongress.com/
Greenpeace "Project Hot Seat" on Dingell: http://members.greenpeace.org/hotseat/Michigan/District15/

Office in Ypsilanti: 301 W. Michigan Ave
Office in Washington, DC: 2328 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-4071

In the news

Three chances to talk to Rep. Dingell about Climate Change, Arbor Update July 2007.

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