Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Running for Assembly District 53, says Kate Anderson, is as exciting as giving birth to her twin daughters. She is vying to fill the same Westside seat that her mentor and former boss in Washington, D.C., Rep. Henry Waxman held before being elected to Congress in 1974. So on Sunday she joined with some 225 Pacific Palisades Democratic Club members and guests to listen to Waxman’s periodic congressional review at the Woman’s Club. For Waxman, 2009 was exciting indeed, but ‘the most challenging year I’ve ever had,’ he admitted. With a warm welcome from a roomful of likeminded constituents, the 18-term congressman maximized his diminutive stature with a stool and a good-natured, ‘Speaking to you has already been an uplifting experience,’ as he stood tall behind the podium. Emerging from two years as chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, trying to oppose efforts by the Bush Administration to block congressional oversight and roll back health and environmental laws, Waxman entered the powerful congressional inner sanctum last January when he was elected chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He beat out Rep. John Dingell, who at 82 is the longest-serving representative in Congress. Alluding to the fight within the Democratic Party for the committee chairmanship, Waxman, 70, explained his reasoning. ‘After the 2008 election, I thought we had a historic opportunity to deal with issues that have been pushed to the back-burner for too long. If I could be chair of Energy and Commerce, I would have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to push forward legislation on energy and health reform in 2009.’ While Waxman praised Dingell as ‘terrific on health issues, not so good on environment’ (the Michigan Democrat has a crippled automobile industry to represent), he felt he could push the legislation through the Democratic Caucus. Waxman had admired Dingell’s leadership on healthcare reform and recognized him as the lead advocate in the House to push health care reform this past year. Well equipped with facts and a concise timeline, Waxman reviewed the three areas of legislation that happen to be under his committee’s aegis while also being top priorities for the Obama Administration: energy, healthcare and consumer protection. Waxman has advocated for healthcare reform for decades, and has sponsored a long list of bills that have been enacted into law. These measures include the largest federally funded program for people living with HIV/AIDS, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, and tobacco regulation. His record on environmental and health protection includes the 1996 Food Quality Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act amendments, passed the same year. Now as chairman, Waxman has had to put his skills as an adroit politician and negotiator into overdrive. He acknowledged the recalcitrance of the Republicans, whose lack of bipartisan support, he asserts, is all part of their strategy to defeat Democratic candidates in 2010 and President Obama in 2012. ‘No Republican supported the economic stimulus bill except Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter, who, you could argue, are the only moderate Republicans left in Congress,’ Waxman said. ‘Even when you have Republicans who want to work with you (such as Senator Specter before he switched over to the Democrats), they come under intimidation’ from within their party. He offered comments from Texas Rep. Joe Barton as example A. ‘Barton said to me, ‘I don’t believe in global warming, I don’t believe it’s a problem, and I don’t believe in working with you on a problem that I don’t believe exists.’ At least he was honest.’ Having reconciled the fact that he will have to depend on the Democratic majority, nevertheless acknowledged the broad representation of different views within the party and from different parts of the country. ‘On the energy bill, we had to work with regional differences, so we proposed a bill making sure there was input from the business community and the environmental community. On the healthcare issue, the committee had to work with the Blue Dog conservative coalition and the liberal Democrats.’ Waxman praised the solid leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi in getting both bills passed by the House. ‘Under that velvet glove, she has steel,’ he said. ‘She’s tough; she knows how to get the votes.’ Waxman had three objectives for clean-energy legislation, known as the Waxman-Markey bill (Chairman Edward J. Markey of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee), that would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, promote the development of new technologies and create millions of new jobs, and reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming. Now with the House and Senate versions of the healthcare bill passed, Waxman and other key Democrats will start drafting a compromise bill, a task that cut short his Christmas break and had him returning to Washington, D. C., Monday morning. The differences between the two draft bills seem to center on taxing high-end health plans, restricting federal subsidies from abortion coverage, and creating a government-run health insurer, or ‘public option.’ Answering the question whether the healthcare negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN, Waxman said ‘No. They may not even be worked out by a conference committee,’ but instead by key Congressional leaders and President Obama. The audience was allotted 45 minutes for written questions, some of them prepared at home, others before Waxman took the podium. An especially informed group, the Democratic Club members were interested in topics ranging from healthcare, global warming and Afghanistan to cap-and-trade, election reform, the West L.A. Veterans property and even noise, pollution and safety issues at the Santa Monica Airport. ‘I am very skeptical about the president’s proposal for Afghanistan,’ Waxman said. ‘How can we expect a corrupt and incompetent government to protect its own population? We can’t afford to spend that money; we can’t be all things to all people all over the world.’ For the most part, Waxman acquitted himself expertly on the issues and declined to comment on issues that he had not thoroughly studied, such as certain provisions of CAFTA and NAFTA, saying only that he hadn’t voted for either of the free-trade bills. He took pains to explain in detail the Byzantine approaches to treating abortion in the healthcare bills, which involve the states’ responsibilities and federal exclusions. He concluded by reiterating his longstanding support of the right of women to freedom of choice, including the full extension of this right to lower-income women who depend on the Medicaid program. ‘The first year of the Obama Administration is not yet finished,’ Waxman said, adding that it has been tough ‘when you had the hand the president inherited from the Bush Administration. ‘But I have a lot of confidence in President Obama. He’s trying to do the right thing. He’s very smart, very thoughtful, and he’s taking his time. The first year of his presidency will not actually end until February or March or April.’
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