; Whereas John Dingell was drafted into the United States Army at the age of 18 and served honorably; Whereas John Dingell received both his B.S. and J.D. degrees from Georgetown University and then served in private law practice, as a park ranger with the National Park Service, and as an assistant prosecutor before his election to the House; Whereas John Dingell was elected to the House following the death of his father in 1955 and was reelected 29 times; Whereas John Dingell took up the mantle of advocating for affordable health insurance coverage for the Nation’s seniors, as championed by his father, and worked to secure the enactment of Medicare in 1965, presided over its passage in the House, and was on hand to witness its signing into law by President Lyndon Johnson; Whereas John Dingell was a crusader for the environment, helping to author and shepherd to passage the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act; Whereas John Dingell fought to make civil rights a part of Democrats’ platform in 1960, standing up to those who believed it would alienate certain voters and declaring that it was the right thing to do; Whereas John Dingell was a strong supporter in the House of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965; Whereas John Dingell served as chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce from January 3, 1981, to January 3, 1995, and again from January 3, 2007, to January 3, 2009, and served as its ranking minority member during the years in between, making him the senior Democratic member on that Committee for 26 years; Whereas during every Congress in which he served, John Dingell introduced legislation to provide universal access to health care, and he invited Speaker Nancy Pelosi to use the gavel with which he presided over passage of Medicare in 1965 to preside over the Affordable Care Act’s passage in the House in 2010