Dale Kildee

Dale Kildee
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 4, 1977
Preceded by	Don Riegle
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Gayle Heyn
Residence	Flint, Michigan
Alma mater	Sacred Heart Seminary, University of Michigan
Occupation	high school teacher

Dale Edward Kildee (b. September 16, 1929, Flint, Michigan) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan since 1977, representing Michigan's 5th congressional district since 2003. The district is based in Flint and also includes Saginaw and Bay City.

Kildee earned his B.A. from Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, Michigan in 1952. He earned a teacher's certificate from the University of Detroit in 1955. He did graduate work in history and political science at the University of Peshawar in Pakistan from 1958 to 1959 under a Rotary Foundation Fellowship. He earned an M.A. from the University of Michigan in 1961.

Prior to entering politics, Kildee was a teacher at University of Detroit High School from 1954 to 1956 and at Flint Central High School from 1956 to 1964.

Kildee served as a member of the Michigan State House of Representatives from the 81st District from 1965 to 1974. He later served as a member of the Michigan State Senate from the 29th District from 1975 to 1977.

Midway through his Senate tenure, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives after 10-year incumbent Don Riegle made a successful run for the United States Senate. He has been reelected 15 times, never facing serious opposition in this heavily Democratic district. He represented Michigan's 7th congressional district for his first eight terms, until 1993. After redistricting following the 1990 census, he represented the 9th district until 2003, when, due to redistricting following the 2000 census, he began representing the 5th district. Although he is one of the longest-serving members of the House, he is only the third-longest tenured congressman from his own state, trailing fellow Democrats John Dingell and John Conyers.

While in Congress, he has been a reliable liberal, with a consistent pro-life voting record. Between 1985 and 2000, he also made 8,141 consecutive House votes. In 1997, he founded the House's Native American Caucus to advocate Native American issues.

In March of 2008, Kildee’s office announced that since first elected to the U.S. Congress, Kildee has returned a total of $1,442,516 to the U.S. Treasury – earning him a reputation for being one of the most frugal and fiscally responsible members of Congress.

Dale Kildee’s legislative initiatives have frequently focused on the protection and development of children. During his first term in the U.S. Congress Kildee led the fight to enact a prohibition on the sexual exploitation of children and the transportation and dissemination of photographs or video depicting child pornography.

Enacted into law, Kildee’s Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act (Public Law 110-134) reauthorized the country’s premiere early childhood education and development program. Head Start has served more than 20 million low-income children and their families since its creation in 1965. Public Law 110-134 targets funding to ensure that half of the Head Start teachers nationwide will have a bachelor’s degree by 2012, to expand Early Head Start services for infants and toddlers, and emphasize early identification of child mental health needs.

Kildee has, since 1993, been co-chair of the Congressional Automotive Caucus. Since its beginnings, the Congressional Automotive Caucus has been effective in guiding legislation, in keeping Members of Congress informed and in protecting American manufacturing jobs. By meeting frequently with auto executives and House Leadership, the Caucus has worked to set aside partisan divisions to advance an agenda that promotes the American auto industry and domestic manufacturing.

Dale Kildee’s district has suffered from the decline of the auto industry, and he has worked to consistently supported job retraining efforts locally and nationally. He helped author several job training programs and secured a $20 million Job Corps Center for Flint, Michigan.

Dale Kildee has introduced the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act in each Congress since 1995. The bill requires each state to provide minimum collective bargaining rights to their public safety employees and encourages states to implement their own compliant regulations in a manner of their own choosing. Most states currently already have laws in place that satisfy the bill’s requirements and would be unaffected.

Kildee has also been a fervent opponent of attempts to divert water from the Great Lakes to western states. His role on the Natural Resources Committee has made more effective his efforts to protect the Great Lakes. In a 1985 Natural Resources Committee markup, he blocked an amendment offered by Rep. George Miller(D-CA) that would have probed the possibility of sending Great Lakes water westward. While the effort would only have conducted a study, it could have opened further consideration of diversion proposals. He has instead advocated for the sustainable consumption of local water resources and water conservation.

In the 110th Congress, Kildee serves on the House Committee on Education and Labor, where he serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. He is also a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Kildee is chairman of the House Page Board.

He came into the edges of the national spotlight during the Mark Foley scandal, as the only Democrat on the page board. Kildee claims he was "never informed" about Foley's communications with a House page, and was "never involved in any inquiry." Kildee took over as chairman of the page board in the 110th Congress.

The former-Chair of the House Page Board, Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL), in an October 1, 2006, St. Louis Post Dispatch article acknowledged that Kildee did not have prior knowledge of the correspondence between Foley and a House page, "I think based on the information I had, what I did was fine. If I regret something, maybe I should have had Dale with me, because now it's going to be a political football." Shimkus later elaborated as to why he did not tell Kildee in a December 8, 2006, article in the Associated Press, "Dale's a nice guy, but he's a Democrat, and I was afraid it would be blown out of proportion."

Committee assignments

• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife
  • Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands

Caucus memberships

• Co-chair of the Congressional Automotive Caucus
• Co-chair of the Native American Caucus

External links

• U.S. Congressman Dale Kildee official U.S. House site
• Kildee for Congress official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Michigan Democratic Party
• 5th Congressional District from Michigan Liberal