3/11/2014 1:19:00 AM
HEADLINES
U.S. Fastener Quality Act Sponsor Dingell to Retire at Age 87
U.S. Rep. John Dingell, 87, the key congressional proponent of the U.S. Fastener Quality Act during the legislative process from the late 1980s through 1999, announced he will not seek re-election in 2014.
The Michigan Democrat, who succeeded his father in a special election in 1955, last year became the longest-serving member of Congress.
In his role as chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee from 1981 to 1995, Dingell led the passage of the original FQA. Public Law 101-592 was signed into law by then President George H.W. Bush in 1990. President Bill Clinton signed H.R. 1183 into law in 1999, significantly reducing the impact of the FQA on the fastener industry.
For years chairman Dingell blocked some proposed amendments, including commingling.
Proposed amendments initially divided fastener manufacturers and distributors, but ultimately brought all segments of the fastener industry together under the Public Law Task Force to find solutions that could pass Congress.
When Republicans won the House majority in 1994, Dingell lost his committee chairmanship and Public Law 101-592 was subsequently amended in 1995, 1998 and 1999, before being implemented on December 6, 1999.
At 6-foot-3, he was known in Washington as” Big John.” In recent years, though respected as mentally active and alert, Dingell has used crutches or a wheelchair to get around the capitol.
He represented a heavily domestic automobile manufacturing district of southeastern Michigan. In defending automakers, Dingell didn’t always please environmentalists. An outdoorsman, he supported gun rights and was a National Rifle Association board member at one time, though he later quit the NRA.
Dingell considered himself to be a centrist and sought members on both sides of the political aisle for support. Dingell has bemoaned the partisan atmosphere of Congress in the past few terms.
Dingell’s website notes he wrote the Endangered Species Act, the 1990 Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and legislation to build North America’s first international wildlife refuge.
He is also credited with authoring the Affordable Care Act, the Patient’s Bill of Rights, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Mammography Quality Standards Act, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act and the Prescription Drug User Fee Act.
But his congressional website does not mention the Fastener Quality Act.
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