John Dingell becomes longest-serving member of Congress ever
Source: Detroit Free Press
A lunch with ex-staffers, dinner with a few family friends — an otherwise quiet Friday on Capitol Hill.
That’s how John David Dingell Jr. plans to celebrate day 20,997 on the job as a congressman: low key. It belies the fact that, as of 12:01 this morning, the Dearborn Democrat officially became the longest-serving member of Congress ever.
Midnight did come with at least one high-placed attaboy — from President Barack Obama, who said “John has always worked tirelessly for people” helping to “pass some of the most important laws of the last half-century, from Medicare to the Civil Rights Act to the Clean Air Act to the Affordable Care Act.”
Dingell, 86, beat the record previously held by the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. If nothing else, Dingell — whose service dates back to before Alaska and Hawaii were states — will be happy that the record rests again with a House member instead of in the Senate.
Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20130607/NEWS06/306070013/John-Dingell-Congress-record-history
I'm 22 years old and lived in Ann Arbor (part of Dingell's district) from age 2 to the end of my kindergarten year. Wow, amazing how Dingell has lasted in Congress under every president since Eisenhower, longer than my dad has lived!
See also: Obama praises John Dingell for record tenure
Stephen Henderson column: John Dingell's list of accomplishments as long as his career
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