Since coming to Congress as a liberal reformer in the aftermath of Watergate, Henry Waxman made a reputation as an uncompromising crusader. Now, at the peak of his powers, Waxman is trying to learn a different way to do things.
Driven to winBorn: Sept. 12, 1939, in Los AngelesFamily: His father and mother are first-generation Americans, the progeny of Russian Jews fleeing persecution in czarist Russia. They owned and lived above the family-owned grocery store in the Watts area of Los Angeles. He is married to Janet Kessler Waxman.Education: Bachelor of arts, political science, UCLA, 1961; juris doctor, UCLA Law School, 1964Politics: Regarded as a liberal Democrat and the voice of the far left on energy, the environment and health care.Career: After graduating from law school, he worked as a lawyer, before successfully running for the California State Assembly in 1969. He replaced retiring Rep. Chet Holifield in 1974 as the representative from what was then California’s 19th District. He has won re-election 17 times without ever facing any serious challenge for his seat. He previously served as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee from January 2007 to November 2008. He replaced John Dingell as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in January 2009.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., once said in a 1989 National Journal interview, “When I first came on … I thought Henry’s first name was sonuvabitch.”
Waxman’s passion and persistence were always seen as virtues when he was championing environmental causes as a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but that was before he took over as chairman this year.
Many feared that his tenacious style — useful when he led the muckraking Government Oversight and Reform Committee — would derail passage of global warming legislation. His quest for a carbon crackdown motivated Waxman’s successful effort to unseat Rep. John Dingell of Michigan as chairman. And if Waxman had broken the seniority tradition to knock off the longest-serving member of the House because Dingell was protective of the auto industry, centrist Democrats feared Waxman would produce a hard-line bill that would never pass the full House.
But Waxman, who represents Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Malibu, has surprised his Democratic colleagues by becoming a deal maker at age 69. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who is leading the carbon cap negotiations for oil- and coal-producing states, said Waxman was “working extremely well with committee members.”
That’s not to say that Waxman has completely changed his ways. Last week, Waxman said he would bypass Boucher’s energy and air quality subcommittee if the group couldn’t move the bill.
But Waxman has been willing to do the kind of horse-trading he once eschewed.
In late April, Waxman vowed not to compromise on his demand for a 20 percent reduction in U.S. carbon emissions by 2020. “I want to keep those caps in place,” Waxman told Bloomberg’s Al Hunt. But Waxman has also vowed to move carbon legislation through the House by the end of this week.
To get that done, Waxman had to give up his 20 percent demand. Last week, as Waxman announced a tentative global warming deal, he was visibly dispirited, lowering his head and softening his voice as he said, “We’ve reached a broad outline negotiated primarily with Mr. Boucher, that would provide a target of 17 percent reductions in carbon emissions by 2020.”
But some moderate Democrats on the energy committee say no matter how hard a 3 percentage point sacrifice was for Waxman to make, the chairman doesn’t realize it will take much more to get lawmakers from districts dependent on coal-fired power, mining, oil and manufacturing on board. Members from those districts don’t think Waxman is really ready to compromise.
“I am shutting down all talk on energy, the negotiations, all of it,” said Rep. G.K. Butterfield D-N.C., when asked about the bill and how Waxman was managing things.
Other members seemed skeptical of Waxman’s vow to move the bill so soon.
“I haven’t seen a deal. I mean there’s talk of one, but I haven’t seen it on paper,” said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich. However, he acknowledged that some just don’t understand chairman Waxman’s motivations. “He comes from a different culture than most of us.”
Waxman grew up in the Watts section of Los Angeles above his parents’ grocery store. He saw the city of his birth go from being a pleasant spot on the Pacific surrounded by orange groves to become one of the most polluted, smog-ridden cities in the country. The environmental cause helped lead him to politics and has been the animating force behind his congressional career.
As one of only three surviving “Watergate babies” in the House — members elected in 1974 after President Richard Nixon resigned that include Miller and Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn. — Waxman has seen false starts on energy and the environment since the days of the 1973-1974 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries embargo that first got Americans thinking about energy policy.
Over 18 terms, Waxman’s approach on energy reform has been shaped by repeated crises and corruption. He started on Energy and Commerce in 1978 as chairman of the subcommittee on health and the environment. A year later, the nation would face its second energy crisis in six years.
In 1990 and 1991, it was the Iraqi invasion of oil-rich Kuwait and the U.S.-led war, Desert Storm, that expelled Saddam Hussein’s forces. A decade later, Waxman’s home state would go through its own energy crisis, as rolling blackouts in 90-degree weather was a public health emergency and eventually helped cost Democratic Gov. Gray Davis his job. Davis’ defeat was a personal matter for Waxman, who was the fundraising mastermind behind getting Davis and other like-minded green-energy proponents and environmentalists elected to the California State Assembly in the 1970s.
Former aides say Waxman’s determination to impose significant reform on the energy industry came during the summer of 2007, as oil prices rose to record levels.
At the time, Waxman said the latest energy squeeze “should be a wake-up call, but it’s really just deja vu all over again for me.” Two years before, Waxman wrote one of the most sweeping and costly green-energy and alternative-fuel bills that was blocked by the Republican-led Congress.
After nearly 70 years, 34 of which he has spent fighting for energy and environmental reforms as a champion of the far-left activists in his party, Waxman is now being asked to be the pragmatic centrist overseer. The fate of President Barack Obama’s entire global warming policy rests with Waxman. He has also been entrusted with holding his party together as it pushes to enact sweeping legislation on not only energy, but as Obama said Tuesday, health care before the year ends. This is the most pressure he’s been under in all of his 34 years in Congress.
Undaunted, Waxman said, “This move by the president to put a higher priority on energy legislation, transform our economy to a green economy, to become more independent in terms of our reliance on fossil fuels indicates that he has strong support from the American people and members of the Congress as well.”
There is no question that he believes that, said the activist. “He has always been a man of his word.”
