Henry Waxman

Representative for California’s 30th District

Speculation in politics is a dangerous game.  All of us are guilty of latching onto hollow indicators in a feeble attempt to make foolproof predictions.  So it comes as no surprise that when I read a June 28, 2011 article in The Hill detailing increased House Democrat dissatisfaction with President Obama in the negotiations to reach a budget deal and raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, I came to the conclusion that this show of discontent was part of an ongoing worrying national trend.  One of the House Democrats, who questions if President Obama is willing to fight for Democratic priorities amid GOP calls for trillions of dollars in spending cuts, is Henry A. Waxman.

Born on September 12, 1939, Henry Waxman grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.  He was the first to attend college, graduating from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1961 and with a juris doctorate from UCLA’s law school in 1964.  After graduating, he briefly practiced law for three years before running for the California State Assembly.  Waxman served three terms there and became chairman of the Health Committee, the Elections, and Reapportionment Committee and the Select Committee on Medical Malpractice.  In 1974, he ran for the U.S. House and won the Democratic primary with 64% of the vote.  This was tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic district and he has been reelected 16 times, never facing substantive opposition.

Part of the reformative political shift following Watergate, Henry Waxman’s health care experience immediately came to the forefront.  In 1978, he made the unprecedented move of challenging a more senior member for the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Health and the Environment.  Using campaign contributions to sway fellow Democrats on the committee, Henry Waxman pulled off the upset.  He continued to chair the committee until the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994.  During his time as chair, he conducted investigations into a range of health and environment issues, including universal health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid coverage, AIDS, and air and water pollution.  Waxman’s legislative priorities are mainly in health in environment issues.  A former smoker and a strong opponent of tobacco companies, Henry Waxman presided over the famous 1994 congressional hearings in which top executives from the major tobacco companies denied that nicotine was addictive.

In addition to health and environmental issues, he has a strong reputation for a vigorous approach to oversight and corruption.  As Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman during the Bush Administration, Henry Waxman used his authority to subpoena administration officials to take on such issues as U.S. contractor abuses in Iraq and dangerous levels of formaldehyde found in federal trailers distributed after Gulf Coast hurricanes.  Moreover, Waxman investigated a wide range of issues ranging including the use of steroids in professional sports, Republican ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and the friendly fire death of former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman and the subsequent Defense Department cover-up.

A stringent Democrat – he has voted with the party nearly 98% of the time – Waxman is known as an energetic ally in the Congress for the Obama administration.  He has been a key proponent of extending environmental legislation and advancing – with little success – aggressive health care reform on a national scale.  A representation of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, Waxman’s recent disillusionment with President Obama, and his accusations of the President pandering to the Republicans, can be interpreted as reinforcing a growing trend in which Democrats are questioning the intentions of the President.  With 495 days until November 6, 2012, the actions of Waxman, and those like him, should not be ignored.

–Amendment202

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