Dingell (Taking Barton's Committee Chair) is strong on the environment and children's health

[Guest guest]

Dingell will replace Joe Barton in the 110th Congress as Chair of

the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over

health legislation like the Combating Autism Act. Dingell is strong on

the environment, strong on children's health. Seems to me that if we

want legislation that provides funding for and requires research of

the role of environmental factors in the etiology of autism we will do

better with a man like this, rather than compromising with Chairman

Barton on a watered down bill now.

Congressman Dingell has written some of the best known laws protecting

our health and our environment, as well as the rights of workers and

consumers. One notable example is the 1990 Clean Air Act which is

credited with cleaning up the air we breathe..[and another is the]

Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). A leader in the effort to

toughen corporate accountability...Dingell led successful efforts to

stop the Bush Administration from allowing higher arsenic levels in

drinking water and from cutting funds to investigate and prosecute

environmental crimes.

Pfizer is one of his larger contributors ($11,500) but as far as I know

Pfizer did not manufacture vaccines for humans using thimerosal or the

MMR and faces no liability in this area. For comparison, consider that

the American Trial Lawyers Association contributed $10,000 to Dingell.

Merck, Lilly, Glaxo, Sanofi, Wyeth, BIO and PhRMA have contributed to

him, but for the 2006 cycle the total of their contributions are

relatively small. The pharmaceutical sector contributed $77,500 to

Dingell as compared with $135,000 to Barton. No doubt the

pharmaceutical contributions influence politicans on both sides of the

aisle.

Bob Krakow

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http://www.house.gov/dingell/bio.htm

BIOGRAPHY

People living in Michigan's 15th District know Congressman D.

Dingell as a tenacious, tireless advocate for their communities.

 Dingell is called the " Dean of the House " for having served the

longest tenure in the 435-member body.  He has developed a sound

reputation as a champion for working families who keeps America's

economy strong; a crusader for our nation's natural heritage; and the

leading voice in Congress for making health care affordable and

accessible to all families.  Because of his work for constituents in

Monroe County and parts of Wayne and Washtenaw counties, and as the

Ranking Member of the influential Committee on Energy and Commerce,

Congressman Dingell is known throughout Michigan and the nation for his

effectiveness and foresight.

Over the last five decades, Congressman Dingell has written some of the

best known laws protecting our health and our environment, as well as

the rights of workers and consumers. One notable example is the 1990

Clean Air Act which is credited with cleaning up the air we breathe,

while preserving American competitiveness.  He fought for the passage

of revolutionary legislation such as the Endangered Species Act; as

well as laws that address America's most pressing needs like the

Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Mammography Quality

Standards Act.

Congressman Dingell also took a leading role in creating the " Do Not

Call " list in 2003 to help families stop unwanted telemarketing and

remains vigilant in his pursuit of a " Patients Bill of Rights " which

will ensure patients' care is in the hands of doctors, not HMO's and

insurance companies.

An avid conservationist and outdoorsman, and senior member on the

Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, Congressman Dingell

successfully passed legislation to create North America's first

international wildlife refuge, protecting thousands of acres of natural

habitat in Southeast Michigan and Canada.

Congressman Dingell worked to protect federal road funds for our

communities and he led efforts in Congress to get hundreds of millions

more in vital road dollars for Michigan. He worked with officials in

Wayne County to save local taxpayers more than $350 million of the cost

to stop pollution of the Rouge River and has been relentless in his

efforts to limit the importation of Canadian waste into Michigan.

 Dingell also wrote the bill that created Michigan's Automobile

National Heritage Area to conserve the story of America's auto

industry.

In addition, few legislators can demonstrate a record of fighting

government waste and corporate corruption like Congressman Dingell.  A

leader in the effort to toughen corporate accountability both before

and after the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals, Dingell has also

taken the lead in exposing government waste and abuses of tax dollars,

including the investigation of no-bid defense contracts in Iraq.

In the past, Dingell led successful efforts to stop the Bush

Administration from allowing higher arsenic levels in drinking water

and from cutting funds to investigate and prosecute environmental

crimes. A defender of the " polluter pays " principle - which protects

taxpayers from picking up the tab on environmental damage - he is

fighting efforts by the Defense Department to exempt itself from some

of our cornerstone environmental laws.

D. Dingell was born July 8, 1926 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 He split much of his childhood between Detroit and Washington, DC,

while his father, also named , served as Congressman from

Michigan's 15th district. 

In 1944, at the age of 18, the younger Dingell joined the US Army and

prepared to fight the Axis powers in World War II.  He rose to the rank

of Second Lieutenant and received orders to take part in the first wave

of a planned invasion of Japan in November of 1945.  The Congressman

has said President Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb to end the

war ‘saved’ his life.

Dingell finished his military service in the fall of 1946, and then

attended town University in Washington, DC where he studied

chemistry.  He continued his studies at town Law School,

graduating in 1952.  He then worked as a forest ranger, a prosecuting

attorney for Wayne County and ran his own private law office.  When his

father passed away while still a Member of the US House of

Representatives in 1955, the younger Dingell stepped up to fill the

void, beginning his career on Capitol Hill at the age of 29.

At the beginning of every session of Congress, Congressman Dingell

introduces the national health insurance bill his father sponsored when

he was a Member.

December 13, 2005 marked Congressman Dingell's 50th anniversary in the

US House.  Only one other House Member has served as long -

Whitten (MS).