When Henry Waxman ran against John Dingell for chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee, it was a race for control of one issue: Climate change. Dingell, the Congressman from Detroit's auto industry, was an impediment to pricing carbon emissions. Waxman, and many others in the House Democratic Caucus, thought that unacceptable, and decided, correctly, that saving the planet should take precedence over preserving seniority. The campaign was contentious, and hard, and Waxman won in a very close vote. But Dingell remained on the Committee, and so too did his many allies, and the prospect that Dingell would burn with a quiet resentment and quietly sabotage, or simply refuse to put his considerable weight and power, behind Waxman's agenda remained a concern. Which is why Waxman's decision to make Dingell the effective chairman of health reform is such a savvy play. And it's not an empty gesture: Just as the Finance Committee has primary jurisdiction over health care in the Senate, Energy and Commerce has jurisdiction in the House. And Dingell is a longtime warrior on this issue, for reasons of both ideology and legacy: His father, also a Congressman, introduced legislator for national health care in 1943. Dingell himself played a key role in 1994, and considered the bill's failure a personal tragedy. According to the agreement reached with Waxman, "Congressman Dingell will be the lead sponsor of the national health care legislation that the Committee will consider and play an integral role in the negotiations with the House, Senate, and Obama Administration...and will have a suitable staff to assist with his work on Committee business." Emphasis mine. Not only is Dingell guaranteed the staff to pursue health reform, but the bill will also bear his name. The human upshot here is that Waxman just managed to ensure that Dingell's loss of the chairmanship didn't mean the destruction of his legacy. In doing, he assured Dingell's support and effort on not only health reform, but most committee business. Waxman is sacrificing some of the glory -- that bill could have bore Waxman's name -- in order to better the chances for success. It's a very smart, and very admirable, move. And it's why Waxman is arguably the House's greatest living legislator: He gets things done. Sometimes that means making power plays, as when he ran against Dingell, and sometimes that means ceding power, as he's shown here. (Via Neil Sinhababu.)
