Rep. Debbie Dingell
Representative for Michigan’s 6th District
pronounced DEH-bee // DING-ul
Dingell is the representative for Michigan’s 6th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 3, 2023. Dingell is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. She is 70 years old.
She was previously the representative for Michigan’s 12th congressional district as a Democrat from 2015 to 2022.
![Photo of Rep. Debbie Dingell [D-MI6]](/static/legislator-photos/412637-200px.jpeg)
Earmarks
Dingell proposed $50 million in earmarks for fiscal year 2024, including:
- $6 million to Charter Township of Canton for “Charter Township of Canton Fire Station Construction”
- $6 million to Van Buren Township Downtown Development Authority for “Van Buren Township Road Reconstruction”
- $6 million to City of Gibraltar for “City of Gibraltar Watermain Replacement”
View all requests and justifications on Dingell’s website »
View analysis and download spreadsheet from Demand Progress Education Fund »
These are earmark requests which may or may not survive the legislative process to becoming law. Most representatives from both parties requested earmarks for fiscal year 2024. Across representatives who requested earmarks, the median total amount requested for this fiscal year was $39 million.
Earmarks are federal expenditures, tax benefits, or tariff benefits requested by a legislator for a specific entity. Rather than being distributed through a formula or competitive process administered by the executive branch, earmarks may direct spending where it is most needed for the legislator's district. All earmark requests in the House of Representatives are published online for the public to review. We don’t have earmark requests for senators. The fiscal year begins on October 1 of the prior calendar year. Source: Appropriations.house.gov. Background: Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Dingell is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Dingell has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to May 28, 2024. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Debbie Dingell sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Dingell was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 5973 (117th): Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Reauthorization Act of 2022
- H.R. 4954 (117th): PFAS Act
- H.R. 7347 (116th): To designate the medical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as the “Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Kettles Department of Veterans Affairs Medical …
- H.R. 4831 (116th): National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2019
- H.R. 3253 (116th): Sustaining Excellence in Medicaid Act of 2019
- H.R. 1342 (116th): EMPOWER Care Act
- H.R. 5765 (114th): Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act of 2016
Does 7 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Dingell sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (46%) Environmental Protection (15%) International Affairs (10%) Energy (8%) Commerce (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Dingell recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.Res. 1238: Supporting the designation of May 17, 2024, as “Endangered Species Day”.
- H.R. 8110: To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to make permanent the …
- H.R. 8109: Money Follows the Person Permanency Act of 2024
- H.R. 7994: Long-Term Care Workforce Support Act
- H.R. 7946: Climate Change Education Act
- H.Res. 1128: Recognizing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, commending a month of fasting and …
- H.Res. 1089: Recognizing the seriousness of widespread health care worker burnout in the United States …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2015 to May 2024, Dingell missed 118 of 5,443 roll call votes, which is 2.2%. This is on par with the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
