Dingell-Waxman Brouhaha Awaits

Related Content

• Boehner Likely to Survive Carnage
• Reid’s New Majority Doesn’t Eliminate Obstacle Course
• 2010 Senate Map May Not Be Much Better for the GOP

Print

E-Mail

Reprints

Text Size

Latest News

• Cao May Be Sole GOP Vote In Favor of Health Bill
• Health Debate Winds Down; Dingell Set to Close
• House Health Care Debate Slogs On Along Party Lines
• Protesters, GOP Leaders Pledge Fight to the End
• Stupak Claims 225 Votes for Anti-Abortion Amendment

Less than a day after firming their grip on the House, Democrats geared up for an internal battle royal as Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (Calif.) launched a bid to wrest the gavel of the Energy and Commerce Committee from Rep. John Dingell (Mich.).

The contest promises to reopen ideological rifts in the party over climate change and other issues just as the committee prepares to tackle an ambitious agenda in concert with President-elect Obama. It carried shades of two years ago when House Democratic elation at recapturing the majority was immediately doused by the bruising fight between Reps. Steny Hoyer (Md.) and John Murtha (Pa.) over the Majority Leader slot.

Dingell was blindsided by Waxman’s maneuver, and he fought back furiously.

“Dingell has proven that he is the best person for this job,” his spokeswoman Jodi Seth said. “This is unhealthy, and does not benefit the party in any way.

“Tearing a leadership apart is something the Republicans should be doing after their big loss, it shouldn’t be the first order of business for the Democrats after a historic election.”

She added, “Dingell has a strong record of accomplishment for the first two years back in the majority and is positioned to move full speed ahead with an aggressive agenda on climate change, health care reform and food and drug safety in the 111th Congress.”

Supporters on both sides have already leapt to the parapets, working the phones to figure out where their colleagues will line up.

The question of the day for Dingell supporters appears to be who knew about Waxman’s move before Dingell did — and whether Waxman has tacit support from any Democratic leaders. Leadership stayed mum on the fight, with spokesmen for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Hoyer and Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) all declining to comment. Sources said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), the ranking member on the Oversight Committee who is retiring from Congress, knew about Waxman’s decision before it made the press Wednesday morning.

Waxman issued a statement late Wednesday that did not mention Dingell.

“We will need the very best leadership in Congress and our committees to succeed. That is why after long thought I have decided to seek the chairmanship of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Enacting comprehensive energy, climate, and health care reform will not be easy. But my record shows that I have the skill and ability to build consensus and deliver legislation that improves the lives of all Americans,” he said.

Waxman’s move highlights longstanding fault lines among senior House Democrats.

Dingell and Pelosi’s relationship has been strained since 2002, when she endorsed Democrat Lynn Rivers in a bitter primary challenge to Dingell. At the start of the 110th Congress, Pelosi outraged Dingell by creating a special select committee — chaired by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) — to advocate for action on climate change legislation. That year, Pelosi, backed by Waxman, clashed with Dingell over the regulation of vehicle emissions, with Dingell seeking to protect the auto industry from new layers of regulation at the state level, and conflicts are certain next year when a major global warming bill is expected to move through Dingell’s committee.

At the time, Waxman ripped Dingell as practicing “business as usual” and protecting special interests, and questioned why he would back a policy that a minority of Democrats supported.

“Democratic chairmen should be getting their votes from Democrats and some Republicans,” Waxman said at the time, “not Republicans and some Democrats.”

Markey and Waxman have advanced principles for legislation, but any bill would have to move through the Energy and Commerce Committee. Environmentalists have suggested that Dingell was not moving quickly enough to take up climate change legislation.

Waxman might also find himself in an uncomfortable spot as head of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The committee’s mandate is essentially to investigate the executive branch; the committee has been a launching pad for the many of the most incendiary allegations against the White House under Presidents Clinton and Bush.

But with a new Democratic president arriving on a wave of popular support, the watchdog function that Waxman clearly relishes is likely to be strictly muzzled by House leadership — at least for the foreseeable future.

By contrast, the Energy and Commerce Committee could assert jurisdiction over major portions of Obama’s agenda — health care, alternative energy, climate change and even restoring stability to financial systems. On many of these issues, Pelosi is more closely aligned ideologically with Waxman than with Dingell, and clearly Waxman is seen as an ally of the Speaker while Dingell is not.

Dingell might be able to argue that since so much of the presidential election was about rescuing manufacturing jobs in the Midwest, it is a poor signal to replace a chairman from Michigan with a chairman from California. Also, California is already well-represented among senior leadership: Aside from Pelosi and Waxman, California Democrats already chair the Education and Labor Committee (Rep. George Miller), the Foreign Affairs Committee (Rep. Howard Berman) and the Veterans’ Affairs Committee (Rep. Bob Filner).