Longtime Head of House Energy Panel Is Ousted By JOHN M. BRODER NYT Published: November 20, 2008 WASHINGTON -- Representative Henry A. Waxman of California ousted Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan from his post as chairman of the influential Committee on Energy and Commerce on Thursday, giving President-elect Barack Obama an advantage in his plans to promote efforts to combat global warming. By a secret vote of 137 to 122, House Democrats ended Mr. Dingell's nearly 28-year reign as his party's top member on the committee. In doing so, Mr. Waxman's backers upended the seniority system to install a leader more in tune with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a variety of issues. Although Ms. Pelosi did not formally endorse Mr. Waxman, members of the Democratic caucus understood that she could have stopped him if she had wished. The incoming Obama administration had also signaled its direction when it named Philip Schiliro, a longtime and loyal aide to Mr. Waxman, as the new White House director of Congressional relations. Besides seating a committed environmentalist as head of the energy committee, the vote also removes one of the auto industry's best friends from a key leadership post -- further evidence of how much power the American car-makers, whose executives have been pleading for federal money, have lost in Congress. -Skip- The chairmanship of the Committee on Energy and Commerce is a key post, since the committee will handle legislation on climate change, energy and health care that President-elect Obama is hoping to move through the new Congress.
By JOHN M. BRODER NYT Published: November 20, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Representative Henry A. Waxman of California ousted Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan from his post as chairman of the influential Committee on Energy and Commerce on Thursday, giving President-elect Barack Obama an advantage in his plans to promote efforts to combat global warming.
By a secret vote of 137 to 122, House Democrats ended Mr. Dingell's nearly 28-year reign as his party's top member on the committee. In doing so, Mr. Waxman's backers upended the seniority system to install a leader more in tune with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a variety of issues.
Although Ms. Pelosi did not formally endorse Mr. Waxman, members of the Democratic caucus understood that she could have stopped him if she had wished. The incoming Obama administration had also signaled its direction when it named Philip Schiliro, a longtime and loyal aide to Mr. Waxman, as the new White House director of Congressional relations.
Besides seating a committed environmentalist as head of the energy committee, the vote also removes one of the auto industry's best friends from a key leadership post -- further evidence of how much power the American car-makers, whose executives have been pleading for federal money, have lost in Congress.
-Skip-
The chairmanship of the Committee on Energy and Commerce is a key post, since the committee will handle legislation on climate change, energy and health care that President-elect Obama is hoping to move through the new Congress.
The Blue Dogs are really pissed. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Which may even be true, but it's a smooth micro-coup, even so.
Waxman was smart about the campaign for it. While Dingell was busy holding press conferences, Waxman was keeping his mouth shut and lining up votes behind the scenes. The Hill staffers say he had Pelosi's backing, and I suspect there was some arm-twisting from the Obama camp, given that Waxman's agenda lines up more than Dingell's with Obama's platform and the fact that one of Waxman's long-time aides is now working for Obama.
The Blue Dogs, who would be the anti-Waxman crowd, didn't do terribly well in the election, especially compared with the Progressives and the New Dems.
On the whole, this is consistent with the movement in the House, which has generally been leftward since the election. The House also doesn't have issues like the filibuster to deal with, anyway, so it's going to be easier to get things through.
It's the Senate that's almost completely dysfunctional. But there are a few factors working in our favor there. We've probably got Arlen Specter's vote on key issues (probably health care, definitely Employee Free Choice), since Pennsylvania went big for Obama and he's in danger of losing his seat in two years (polling at only 40%). We can also probably squeeze another vote or two out of Maine, and I'm sure there are a couple others.
So there's an annoying but still reasonably clear path to 60, even if things don't come through for Franken and/or Martin. And the fact that the Republicans are more vulnerable two years from now in the Senate than the Dems should be helpful. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Can't be true, because I think he received more than half the votes (137/~260)...
