Henry Waxman successfully took over the chairmanship of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce from John Dingell. The vote was fairly close, 137-122, demonstrating the divisions between moderates and liberals in the caucus. To get an idea of what this means, let’s look at the jurisdiction of the committee:
Biomedical research and development. Consumer affairs and consumer protection. Health and health facilities (except health care supported by payroll deductions). Interstate energy compacts. Interstate and foreign commerce generally. Exploration, production, storage, supply, marketing, pricing, and regulation of energy resources, including all fossil fuels, solar energy, and other unconventional or renewable energy resources. Conservation of energy resources. Energy information generally. The generation and marketing of power (except by federally chartered or Federal regional power marketing authorities); reliability and interstate transmission of, and ratemaking for, all power; and siting of generation facilities (except the installation of interconnections between Government waterpower projects). General management of the Department of Energy and management and all functions of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. National energy policy generally. Public health and quarantine. Regulation of the domestic nuclear energy industry, including regulation of research and development reactors and nuclear regulatory research. Regulation of interstate and foreign communications. Travel and tourism. The committee shall have the same jurisdiction with respect to regulation of nuclear facilities and of use of nuclear energy as it has with respect to regulation of nonnuclear facilities and of use of nonnuclear energy.
Waxman was endorsed for reelection by environmental groups like the Sierra Club, while John Dingell was not. Dingell’s reputation is as a fierce advocate for the Detroit automakers, while Waxman’s reputation is as a fierce advocate for cleaner air and water. Waxman’s coup provides smoother sailing for Obama’s green infrastructure agenda, which is probably why the effort was launched (with Pelosi’s tacit support) and why it succeeded. Roll Call reported that the freshman class planned on voting roughly 18-3 in favor of Waxman, which tells us a little about their sensibilities on environmental issues and Blue Doggery in general. When you consider that the two Michigan freshmen came out openly for Dingell, it becomes obvious that the freshman class was nearly unanimous in supporting the liberal over the moderate. That’s doubly surprising when you consider that we elected two congressmen from Alabama, one from Idaho, and another from North Carolina.
On a sad note, John Dingell, who is serving his 27th term in Congress, has introduced a universal health care bill in every Congress since 1956. Now, at the very moment when his lifelong dream is going to be fulfilled, he gets kicked out of the chair that will mark-up the legislation. I feel badly about that.
The move by Waxman means that he will relinquish his chairmanship of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. It will most likely be taken over by Edolphus Towns of Brooklyn. Rep. Towns is one of three members of the Congressional Black Caucus (along with Al Wynn of Maryland and William ‘Freezer Cash’ Jefferson of Louisiana) that progressives have tried to primary out of the party. Unfortunately, Reps. Towns and Jefferson easily retained their seats. It remains to be seen how aggressive Chairman Towns will be in investigating the Bush years, but he will surely be better than Chairman Lieberman on the Senate side.
All good news comes with bad. Ted Stevens lost his senate seat after being convicted of seven felonies. Today the Senate gave him a standing ovation and praised his career. There is still work to do.
The liberal crowing about Dingell’s defeat leaves kind of a bitter taste, as you note. It’s probably for the best in the big view, because this is no time for an all-out auto industry cheerleader to have that kind of power. But Dingell’s concern did seem to be more with the workers than the corporations, which unfortunately are thoroughly intertwined. On most other issues, Dingell’s been a pretty reliable liberal.
BTW, why in the name of the gods would the energy committee be the go-to guys for healthcare legislation? What corrupt buddy-system collegiality let that happen. So today we have two good examples of why the Senate needs to be scraped clean and rebuilt from scratch.
Remember, your health care is someone else’s commerce.
Exactly. And we have a committee to help assure that that toxic arrangement has a permanent home. I have to wonder what changes would occur to public perception if healthcare was moved from Commerce to its own top-level committee.
Yep. I have friends here in Michigan who were watching this very closely, and were really hoping that Dingell would hold onto this chair. As if there wasn’t already enough to worry about with the auto industry, now they’re afraid that their jobs are going to play a distant second fiddle to environmental concerns with Waxman as the chair, where it was the opposite under Dingell.
I am a little bit reassured that Obama is including Gov. Granholm in his economic advisory committee. The only possible reason I can think of to include the governor of the worst state economy in the nation is because the auto industry is a prime concern for him.
We’ll see how everything plays out.
Your friends in Michigan should take a step back and realize just how much Dingell’s “help” over the years has set them back. A good chunk (though by no means all) of the reason Detroit is in such rough shape right now is because the auto companies were allowed to be complacent in the US while foreign companies were innovating on fuel efficiency and pollution control system. If Dingell had led the charge to put the squeeze on the automakers to improve in these areas, Detroit might not be hurting quite so badly.
(Of course, in the grand scheme of things universal health care would help the auto companies more than forcing them to build cars for the 21st century would have, so at least he was trying. Still, there’s no reason he couldn’t have done both instead of working hard to let the buggy whip manufacturers continue to profit long after their product should have been innovated away.)
Yes, I’m sure many of their worries will be ameliorated by taking a step back and thinking of it that way.
I honestly don’t think that Waxman is after anyone’s job–except top management. And they really, really need to go and leave their golden parachutes at the door.
What I’d like to see is a bridge from the types of cars they’re building now to better, more fuel efficient cars. I think Waxman will be sensitive to that.
But I understand your concerns–really I do. A plant in my hometown has been shuttered for 25 years now. My Dad used to work there. A lot of people I know–parents of my friends growing up–used to work there. Dad saw the writing on the wall and bounced before he had no choice. But the point is that nothing ever came to replace it. The old plant is still there, silent.
This is an entire industry, and it just can’t be allowed to implode. I don’t think Waxman will let that happen.
Dingell did a lot of good on a lot of different issues. And protecting his industry is one of his jobs, IMO, because in so doing, he’s protecting his district’s interest, which is what you “hire” your Member to do. Usually, it’s a good thing. But you also send your Member to make good national policy, too. And protecting your district in the way Dingell always has doesn’t make good local nor national sense.
I think you should expect good things from Waxman. I think he’ll look out for real people. But I do not say that this transition time will be easy, and I hope the blow is softened. This day was always coming, and it’s better to face it with a plan than kick the can down the road. Eventually, you’re gonna catch up with it.
I agree AP, and I do expect good things from Waxman.
There is just a lot of anxiety right now. It’s the devil you know vs. the devil you don’t. And honestly, whenever there has been any change here over the past several years, it has always seemed to be for the worse.
I totally understand. My only visit to Michigan has been to connect through the airport but I’m worried, too.
One of my issues in one of my former jobs was trying to come up with a plan after a major employer left. I had to tell a 50 year old woman about re-training opportunities and such.
I have never in my life felt so small and insignificant and really, like a BS merchant. I don’t remember her name or even what she looks like, but I will never forget her: I’m 50 years old. This is all I’ve ever known. I have a mortgage. I don’t know what to do. How can I start over again?
That was almost a decade ago. Things like that really stick with you.
And I just want to smack the next person who tries to blame the economic problems on unions!!!!!!! Oh, that shit is raising my blood pressure. No one talked about how much people in the financial sector was making, but certain people can’t STFU about unions. My goodness, can you believe it–they have the temerity to not want to earn slave wages.
Sobs! Clutched pearls!
I swear, I really and truly believe rethugs see this as a way to break the UAW on their way out the door.
But again, these are not great times, and I want good people thinking of some long-term solutions with as little short term pain as possible. Working people did not cause this trouble and should not have to bear the brunt of this mess.
put the industry 30 years behind Japan. Since he has never supported a gradual increase in CAFE, the industry has gone along making vast hulking piles of crap. Now that gas has gone up, we are simply uncompetitive. And that is due to the shielding of the industry by Dingell.
Dingell is also a big backer of the NRA.
Sibel Edmonds’ silencer is more powerful. Joy.
In fairness, even the liberal Waxman wouldn’t touch it. And Rep. Towns is reviled for supporting CAFTA and other business friendly legislation, and for endorsing Clinton in the primaries. He votes and acts like a New Yorker (financial services friendly liberal). I see him as more likely to listen to Sibel Edmonds than Waxman because he doesn’t give a crap about U.S.-Turkish relations.
I don’t know anything about Towns, but I’m glad to see the chair of that committee going to someone other than Waxman, who was an impediment to many things, especially the Edmonds investigation. If Waxman can do more good for Democrats and the nation in his new assignment, hurray. (Bad news for Dingell, though).
Today the Senate gave him a standing ovation and praised his career. There is still work to do.
The concept that you “Don’t kick a person when s/he is down” comes to mind. He lost, and if he were somehow to have been re-elected, he’d have been kicked out. They probably thought he had been humiliated enough.
Some senators had kind words for Bob Packwood, which I completely disliked. For better or worse, giving even the worst senators some sense of dignity on their way out is part of the Senate culture.
Um, Packwood was not a convicted felon, far as I know. If this is Senate culture, it’s time some of that Change we keep hearing about does some remodeling. Sometimes just leaving quietly is more dignified than staging a gross and embarrassing hypocrisy fest.
You’re right, he wasn’t convicted, though his diary, IIRC, was damning and the Ethics Cmte was about to expel him. My revulsion factor, however, is far greater toward a man who was alleged (with strong evidence) to have rammed his tongue down a woman’s throat rather than a man convicted of corruption. I simply don’t see how nest-padding and assault are equally evil.
But anyway–if they let Packwood go with a little dignity, then they can do the same with Stevens.
I just think sniffing over the fact that those Senators who chose to go to the floor (it’s not like it was the full Senate) and applaud him is petty.
While I don’t feel sorry for him–at all–Stevens hasn’t been totally evil in terms of doing some good for some people. And he has been there for 40 years, so even though his Conference was about to toss him, it’s not like he doesn’t have relationships with other Senators and such. If he wanted to give a final speech, then sure…he can knock himself out.
It seems like Begich will be an excellent Senator. As will Hagan and others who are coming in. I’m excited about that. I just don’t see one act of courtesy/mercy/pity or whatever as indicative of anything big.
link
“All good news comes with bad. Ted Stevens lost his senate seat after being convicted of seven felonies. Today the Senate gave him a standing ovation and praised his career. There is still work to do. “
You betcha!
I called up Harry Reid’s office and expressed my delight that they were having a party for Ted. “There are a lot of people who look at being a convicted felon as a bad thing, but not me! I support Harry reid 100%,a nd I have ideas for other senate celebrations, which are a great way to spend the taxpayers time and money.
He shoudl invite Alberto Gonzalez back for a real send-off: that guy never got his due for all the wonderful things he did for Aemrica.
Also, can we invite William jefferson over for a party too? he’s the guy with $100,000 bucks in hid fridge, and I think he deserves a standing ovation too.”
“Sir, i get your point…”
“No, you don’t. You think I’m joking. I’m serious. We should also try to find DB Cooper and have a party for him too, and if not, Harry Reid should propose a toast or something.”
“Sir, I’m really busy..”
“I know, I know. hey, why don’t we have a party for Marc Rich? Oh wait, he got pardoned.”
That’s about when she hung up.
I considered emailing my Congressman about this vote but refrained, I’m quite happy about the result. Dingell’s intransigence on issues that effected the auto industry hurt the very industry he was trying to protect.
Dingell spent decades insulating the auto industry from measures such as increasing the CAFE standard, which would have made the industry more resilient when gasoline peaked at over four dollars a gallon recently.
Dingell, despite his apparent support for legislation on global warming, was apparently using his chairmanship to hold the legislation hostage and prevent any actions that would — again — affect the auto industry, which makes a mockery of his feigned support since a solution to the problem would necessarily involve less reliance on gasoline.
Recently, Dingell’s supporters cynically used the issue, citing delays that would occur in the passage of legislation on the problem if Dingell wasn’t retained as chair.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dingell-team-ouster-would-slow-global-warming-bill-2008-11-14.ht
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I’ve lost patience with denialists on the issue of global warming. After years of working around climate scientists, I’m no longer willing to grant any validity to an argument that’s one of the largest disinformation campaigns in history.
Moreover, the framing of this issue as it pertains to conservation and economics is often disingenuous, pitting one against the other. Actually, measures that help the problem of global warming would also help ween us from our reliance on fossil fuel and thus help the economy. It’s a change we’re going to have to make eventually so the question is not ‘if’ but ‘when.’ There’s also an added dividend in that war over oil in the Middle East becomes less likely.
I can’t say I feel any sympathy for Dingell at this point, and I also have no patience for people who want to frame this issue in a partisan context. Ideology isn’t a part of the laws of physics.