WASHINGTON — John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history and a staunch ally of the U.S. auto industry, died Thursday at the age of 92. CNN and Detroit's two main newspapers earlier reported he had cancer and had entered hospice care.
A Democrat and son of a congressman, Dingell worked alongside 11 presidents for nearly six decades in the House of Representatives representing Michigan's 12th District, which includes Ford Motor Co.'s home base in Dearborn. His wife, former General Motors executive Debbie Dingell, holds his former seat.
Dingell, who bounced back from a heart attack in September 2018, was an influential power player on energy and health care legislation. He championed U.S. automakers and manufacturing jobs, civil rights, environmental regulation and national health insurance — helping to create the Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama and Medicare 45 years ago.
As the chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee in 1981-94 and again in 2007-08, he wielded substantial influence over legislation that affected the auto industry.
Although he helped author the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, which created the United States' first corporate average fuel economy standards for light vehicles in the wake of the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, Dingell often clashed with his own party and environmentalists over raising the standards because he said it could hurt the U.S. economy. He eventually co-sponsored the Clean Air Act of 1990, which clamped down further on tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks.
Dingell's death prompted a wave of tributes from former colleagues and auto industry officials, as well as renewed calls for cooperation in Washington during a period of unprecedented partisanship.
"In Michigan, he was that rare accessible hero that would fight for our paychecks, our health care, our labor rights and our civil and human rights," UAW President Gary Jones said in a statement.
“Even on the most divisive issues at the most difficult of times, he was unwavering in his efforts to find common ground,” Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., said in a statement. “He constantly reminded us as a company and as an industry that we either work together or we fail separately … His passing is a reminder that we need more leaders who are willing to find compromise and bring people together for the greater good.”
In 2007, Dingell proposed a carbon tax that would have hiked the price of gasoline by 63 cents a gallon. He initially expressed skepticism about humans' impact on climate change, but later justified the cap-and-trade program because he believed the science resolved any doubts.
He expressed annoyance at portrayals of him as favoring big business over the environment. In 2014, Dingell told Politico magazine, "If you look, you'll find that what I did was make these laws tolerant for industry. And I would tell the industry folks, 'You've got to go along. I will get you a bill that you will hate, but it will be a bill that you can live with.'"
