you may not be important either, according to john dingell. but you're still important to me. am heartened by how many good and thoughtful people will still be serving here when i leave. after next week i'll be your constituent. i hope you keep pushing to bridge the divides, keep pushing to do important work for all of us and i have faith that if you keep doing that, despite sometimes extraordinary odds, we will be just fine. so i thank you, madam speaker, and for the last time, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 4, 2021, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. roy, for 30 minutes. mr. roy: i thank the speaker. i'd like to thank the gentleman from pennsylvania for his service to this country. we should all be down here engaging with our colleagues more often to learn more about them. did not know that about your father. god bless you. god speed. thank you for serving in this chamber. madam speaker, much has been made in the last week over the actions of two governors, in particular govern greg abbott of the state i

but being john dingell, of course, the language was much more salty. uh the importance of rules to the legislative process and the fact that rules on the waving of the rules ultimately can be very determinative outputs is, you know, little appreciate, i think, out of outside of capitol hill, it's only when you get here and you start seeing how the wheels turn, that you realize how impactful they are. so yes, i'm here to uh i was called here to talk about excessive complexity of house rules for moving legislation. um, your staff had flagged a committee had written for the hill where and i decried excessive complexity, particularly citing a process by which the debt limit was raised by something like $400 billion dollars or more, which was baffling to even long term congress watchers who follow this stuff. so if it's baffling to us, i mean, my goodness, how can anybody else in this country understand what occurred now? i want to say? of course, you know, there's nothing inherently wrong with complex rules when you're dealing with humans who are interacti

but, being john dingell, the language was much more salty. the importance of rules in the legislative process, rules, or the waiving of the rules, ultimately, can be very alternative outputs. it is a little appreciated out of capitol hill. and so, it is only when you get here and you start to see how the wheels turn that you realize how impactful they are. so, yes, i am here, and i was called to talk about excessive complexity of house rules for moving legislation. you know, your staff lines a committee waiting for the hill where i decried excessive complicity. citing the process by which the debt limit was raised by something like 400 billion dollars or more. it was baffling to even long term congress watchers who follow this stuff. it is baffling to us. my goodness, how can anybody else in this country understand what occurred? now, i want to say, of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with complex rules. you are dealing with humans, they are interacting, legislator chambers, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. of course, we

: i will interject that a friend of mine and i were working on a book and we had a dinner with john dingell, who served in the house longer than any human being ever, more than half a century. he said when i came to congress people sold a role in the following way, first they were from estate, second, they represent an institution, the house or senate, and third, a party. and over my career, those were flipped, now party, institution, and lastly, your state. not healthy, i would say. who else? right there. >> yeah, you mentioned that the education demographics have almost flipped between republicans and democrats. i am wondering if you can say more about that that is new? why did that happen? mr. newhouse: it did not start with trump. i think he accelerated the movement, but we began to see that even after the mitt romney election. i can't pinpoint exactly why it happened. there is -- i can give you one more example. the new york times came out with a pole this sunday and asked which party is better described by these phrases, and which party is a party for the working class? republicans an

and and it validates something that former chairman of this committee said, congressman, john dingell, who said, who was one of the authors of the clean air act. said it was never the intent of congress, the epa to regulate greenhouse gasses. and that's just another example of where we as members of congress need to take responsibility. thank you. mr chairman, i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the chair now welcomes the representative from virginia. the gentleman from virginia, mr mceachin, you're recognized for five minutes, please. >> thank you, mr chairman. it cannot be disputed that plastic pollution disproportionately affects marginalized and underrepresented communities, not only in my district, but across this nation. while we must find ways to reduce pollution and increase reuse, we must do so in a responsible and equitable manner. mr allaway in your testimony, you state that doing oregon's research on recycling, you discovered that recycling distributes burdens and benefits inequitably. could you speak to those inequities and how does oregon in their programs seek t

yesterday and it validates something that the former chairman of this committee side, congressman john dingell who was one of the authors of the clean air act, said it was never the intent of congress or the epa to regulate greenhouse gases and that's another area where we as members of congress need to take responsibility. thank you, i yield back. >> the gentleman yield back and the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, you're rick recognized for five minutes. >> and marginalized and underrepresented communities not only in my district from across this 0 nation, while we must find ways to reduce pollution and increase reuse, we must do so in responsible and equitable manner. mr. allaway, you state in oregon's recycling you discovered that recycling, quote, distributes burdens inequitably. can you speak to how oregon seeks to litigate those inequities. there's a number of ways in our state and i presume the rest of the country distributes equitably. in oregon, it homes in geographic access to recycling opportunities and lower cost. residents of rural communities do not have good access

husband, john dingell. those of us who know hal can testify to the respect and love he has for this institution and for the role of dean. he will surely uphold its traditions and continue to carry forward this chain of history for the house and for our democracy. i rise to congratulate the dean of the house, hal rogers of kentucky. and i yield -- mr. speaker, i yield to the republican leader. mr. mccarthy: i thank the gentleman for yielding. and as you talk, you're runner-up almost to the dean too. so i appreciate your service. before i begin, i do want to take a moment, i do want to recognize and talk about our former member, don young. he took this job very serious. and he's greatly missed. and the new dean, there are some similarities to you and don. you both have your assigned seats. don was in the back. but you're up front. don was a yeller. you're more of a southern gentleman. don preferred a knife in his boot. you just like cigars. which i think is a little improvement. i've known hal for the 15 year