At around 10:40 a.m., the House erupted into applause as Representative John Dingell of Michigan took the gavel in order to preside over the House of Representatives. Dingell, the longest serving representative in Congress, has been pursuing universal health care since the day he took office in 1955.
It's a crusade that Dingell inherited from his father, John Dingell, Sr. who in 1945 co-sponsored the Wagner-Murray-Dingell bill. That bill proposed to "expand the Social Security Act to include a vast program of medical care and hospitalization insurance."
According to Dingell's office, the last time he served as Speaker Pro Tempore was April 8, 1965--the day the House passed Medicare.