The House Democratic Caucus voted by a slim margin to replace
Representative John Dingell (D-Mich) as the Chairman of the powerful
House Energy and Commerce Committee–ending his 28-year tenure as the
top Democrat in the Committee.
The more liberal Representative Henry Waxman (D-Cali) will take lead of the committee,
which has jurisidiction over energy, the environment, consumer
protection, telecommunications and health care programs. The committee
willl be at the center of major debates on climate change legislation
in the next Congress.
Waxman has a 16 year record as the chair of an environment and
health subcommittee under Dingell. He is considered to be a bigger
supporter of the environment than Dingell, who is an old-school
Democrat with strong ties to the auto industry in his home state.
Waxman, 69, has also been the top Democrat on the Oversight and
Government Reform Committee for the last 12 years.
Waxman won the Chairmanship yesterday in a narrow vote of 137-122.
Dingell has clashed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali) in the
past, but has key Republican support. It is yet to be seen if the loss
of that support will harm House Democrats’ ability to move legislation
as smoothly as they have since taking control of the House in 2006.
"I think it was highly inappropriate," said Rep. Rick Boucher,
(D-Va). "There was no obvious reason for it other than the desire for
another person to chair the committee.
After the vote, Waxman said, "The argument we made was that we needed a
change for the committee to have the leadership that will work with
this administration and members in both the House and the Senate in
order to get important issues passed in health care, environmental
protection, in energy policy."
In the Senate…
Senator Reid (D-Nev) was re-elected as Majority Leader.
Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman, a registered Democrat, retained
his position as chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs. He was removed from his position on the
Environmental and Public Works Committee. Since he gave his support to
Republican presidential candidate John McCain, there has been talk of
censure to remove Lieberman from his committee positions.
Senate Democratic Party leadership for the 111th Congress was
also announced: Harry Reid, Senate majority leader; Robert Byrd,
president pro tempore; Dick Durbin, assistant majority leader; Charles
Schumer, vice chair of the conference; Patty Murray, secretary of the
conference; Byron Dorgan, chairman of policy committee; Debbie
Stabenow, chair of steering and outreach committee; Jeff Bingaman,
chairman of committee outreach; Blanche Lincoln, chair of rural
outreach; Barbara Boxer, chief deputy whip; Thomas Carper, deputy whip;
Bill Nelson, deputy whip; and Russell Feingold, deputy whip.
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