From:  Downriver News Herald

SOUTHGATE — U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-15th District) was the guest speaker Tuesday at a Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber legislative forum at Crystal Gardens.

Dingell, the longest-serving current member of the U.S. House of Representatives addressed several topics on legislative activities, and offered insights on the political climate in Washington, D.C., and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His district encompasses portions of the Downriver area, Dearborn, Monroe County and eastern Washtenaw County.

A couple of weeks after the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Dingell said the city still is in the game.

“They are competing,” he said. “Their sales are up. The stock is increasing in value, and, quite frankly, they’re looking good.”

Dingell said the United States will see to it that the automakers have the resources to redevelop factories and continue to make the best automobiles in the world.

“The best and nicest and the sharpest automobiles in the world are made right here in the U.S.,” he said.

Despite the world competition, the U.S. will continue to achieve and overcome any obstacles in its way, Dingell said.

“The Chinese are quite determined they’re going to rule the world and that they are going to be the biggest manufacturer and exporter in the world,” Dingell said.

“We’re quite content to let them have that ambition, but we’re going to set our own ambitions higher.

“Together, we are going to put our people back to work, and we’re going to protect our children’s future and we’re going to change our standings in the global marketplace.”

Dingell said the U.S. is producing 40 percent more in the manufacturing sector than the Chinese.

“We still lead the world in that area,” he said.

He reiterated the slogan, “Make it in America.”

On the legislative side, Dingell said the nation’s economic recovery is moving forward.

So far, 102,000 jobs have been created or saved in Michigan under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he said, and more than 250,000 students in the state were able to go through college better with the increases in grants and student loans.

“We are reviving our economy,” Dingell said. “We’re investing more than $1.67 trillion in more jobs, improving infrastructure, advancing innovative energy projects and providing more tax cuts for working Americans.”

Another major topic Dingell addressed at the forum was the nation’s health care reform bill.

Dingell said the country faces two massive problems: the budget deficit and a workable health care system.

He said the bill that was approved last year “sees to it that Americans with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage.”

“It protects the people’s choices and doctors, and it ends annual and lifetime limits on care providers,” Dingell said. “It sees to it that young people may stay on their parent’s policies until they’re 26.

He also said the bill expands and improves Medicaid, protects Medicare and extends the Medicare trust fund by about 10 years.

“So, when we look at this legislation, let us recognize that simply destroying it would be extremely unwise,” Dingell said.

A repeal is unnecessary, he said, because there will be a number of benefits with the reform, such as tax assistance for 100,000 businesses in Michigan that provide health care for their employees. There also will be tax credits that benefit 11,000 small businesses in Michigan, he said.

Dingell said there still is much to be done, but he intends to see to it that it is properly administered to people in 2014.

Dingell also addressed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’re engaged in two wars,” he said. “Unfortunately, they are both being fought on a credit card.”

Dingell said Iraq seems to be moving toward some kind of success or closure and he is hopeful the final removal of American troops will meet the deadline set by President Obama.

Afghanistan is going to be more difficult, Dingell said.

“The president has retooled the strategy, including adding some 40,000 troops to the mission,” he said.

“At the same time, Congress has provided the necessary funding to see to it that the troops have what they need to carry out their responsibility.”

The two wars have cost the United States $1 trillion, which is added to the national debt, he said.

“We’re going to find that there will be additional costs and we’re going to have to see to it that we arrange to fit them into the budgetary structure,” Dingell said.

He said he sees the new challenge as the $2 trillion or $3 trillion cost of caring for veterans, just from injuries thus far.

Despite that, Dingell said, he will not support or submit to cutting back on veterans’ benefits.

“We should be proud that our troops are not only the best but the most dedicated and decent in the world,” he said.

Dingell, 84, has been in Congress since 1955, and is chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, one of five exclusive committees in the U.S. House.

In the past five decades, he has written more than 20 of the most prominent laws. They include the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environment Policy Act, the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge Establishment Act of 2001 and the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990.

Other environmental and energy issues Dingell continues to work on include safe drinking water, leaking underground storage tanks, Superfund, the Clean Air Act and solid waste.

In 2007, he was involved with legislation giving states more control over the importation of municipal solid waste, including that which comes from Canada.

He plans to run for another two-year term in 2012. If he wins that election, he would be on his way to becoming the longest-serving member in the history of Congress, surpassing the late Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who served for a total of 57 years.

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