Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank him for taking this Special Order. Mr. Speaker, when this new House convenes on January 6, it will be the first in 59 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 every year that I have 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 Americans did not have. They did not have Medicare. Seniors were unprotected from the rising costs 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.…”