Democratic Convention Watch: House: Commerce and Energy

Thursday, November 20, 2008

House: Commerce and Energy

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Henry Waxman, of California, is taking over the chair of the House Committee on Commerce and Energy from John Dingell of Michigan, based on a secret ballot this morning.

Why you care:

1. This upends the seniority system that has always been in place in the House. (Or at least as long as I can remember).

2. Waxman is an environmentalist. Dingell, not so much.

More to follow.

Comments (3)

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Peter Zenger 62p · 854 weeks ago

Not a good day for the Old Bulls. Rangel is not pleased. Does anyone think his tenure at Ways and Means is at risk?

Would there be value in having term limits for commitee chairs? This could prevent the status quo from getting too entrenched.

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Mike in Maryland · 854 weeks ago

When the Repugnants won control of the House in 1994, they instituted term limits (six years) on chairmanships. When 2001 came around, there were a lot of Repugnants who saw the folly of those term limits (in some cases, the strongest candidate for the position was ineligible for the position), but they kept the term limits as it was part of their 'Contract on America'.

We know how good Repugnants are ar keeping their word, especially when it comes to contracts. Well, when keeping their word helps them, even it it's BS talking points. Their word is not near as good when breaking their word is beneficial, especially in terms fo money and power, though. In 2001, the Repugnants thought it more important to keep their word on their 'Contract on America' than to buck the system they instituted.

Mike

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