energy and commerce committee

On Monday, The New York Times ran a damning story detailing how the nation’s drug makers are hiking their prices ahead of the reform laws winding their way through Congress. The very next day, some powerful House Democrats called for a closer look, asking the Government Accountability Office to examine the drug industry to verify [...]

As we’ve pointed out, passage of the House climate change proposal last month wouldn’t have happened without the liberal sponsors first bowing to the demands of some of their more conservative Democratic colleagues, who were protecting the same polluting industries the bill aims to rein in.
Among the most vocal opponents of the initial draft was [...]

After threatening 450 amendments and other delays, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee appear to be playing ball, and against all odds, it actually looks like the landmark Waxman-Markey energy and climate will be voted out of committee tonight.
Tuesday’s hearing, the first day at which amendments to the bill were presented, extended late [...]

It may come a surprise to some that the government has tougher safety standards for Cocoa Puffs than for Marlboros, but under current law, the Food and Drug Administration has no power to regulate the cigarette industry.
House lawmakers took a step today to change that, passing legislation placing tobacco products under the regulatory eye of [...]

Remember Joe Barton (R-Texas)? The ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who admitted recently that he’s “probably below average in [his] ability to understand” the nuts and bolts of climate change legislation? Well, he just had some more invaluable insights into global warming. His basic message: No biggie — humans can adapt.
He [...]

Literally.
It was no mystery that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal.) was intent on making environment-friendly changes when he swept the chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee from beneath auto-friendly Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) in November. And this week, that house-cleaning began in earnest.

In a shift of power that could prove vital to the Obama administration’s energy-policy successes, House Democrats Thursday morning voted to oust Rep. John Dingell as head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, replacing him with Rep. Henry Waxman.

By a slim margin, Democratic leaders voted today to remove Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) from his long-held post atop the House Energy and Commerce Committee and replace him with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal.), according to reports. The vote in the the House Steering Committee was 25 to 22.
Tomorrow, the entire House Democratic caucus will vote [...]

For anyone wondering if Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal.) is in his right mind challenging Rep. John Dingell (Mich.), the longest-serving Democrat in Congress, for the gavel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, there is this bit of history:
After being elected to his third term in Congress in 1978, Waxman took on Rep. Richardson Preyer [...]

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but there is the possibility that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal.) — who has launched a surprise challenge to Rep. John Dingell’s (D-Mich.) chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee — will, at the end of this saga, surrender his spot as head of the Oversight and Government Reform panel.
What [...]