House Dems bounce Dingell for newer model, Calif's Henry Waxman

Rep. John Dingell might have seemed like the House of Representative's immovable object. That was until the fierce defender of the American auto industry met an undeniable force.

The House Democratic Caucus voted 137-122 Thursday to bounce the 81-year-old representative from his chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, replacing him with Henry Waxman, the Beverly Hills representative with a much more environmentally-friendly reputation.

Congress-watchers expect the 69-year-old Waxman to help pave the way for long-delayed measures to increase the full efficiency, and reduce the tailpipe emissions, of American-made cars.

Dingell helped stave off such reforms in his more than two decades serving as either the chairman or ranking Democrat on the key congressional committee.

A grim new landscape -- the Big Three auto makers nearly bankrupt and energy scarcity putting fuel efficiency atop the domestic agenda -- helped Waxman eke out the narrow but stunning victory over Dingell.

Dingell seemed to many to be too cozy with the struggling industry, in part perhaps because his wife, Debbie, is an executive at General Motors and a descendant of the struggling auto giant's founding family.

The, uh, outspoken Waxman has been a force in the House since he joined in the post-Watergate class of 1974, making a splash in recent years as a senior member and chair of the committee that looked into the Hurricane Katrina cleanup and the use of steroids in baseball.

--Jim Rainey

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Photo credit: Gerald Herbert / Associated Press

Comments

[sherry]

Posted by BeyondGreen

Electric cars would cost the equilalent of 60 cents a gallon to charge and drive. The electricity could be generated from solar or wind sources.Fossil fuels are finite. We are using oil at twice the rate we are discovering new oil. We need to get on about the business of becoming energy independent and using alternative sources of fuel. The high cost of gas this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. While we are doing the happy dance around the lower prices at the pumps OPEC is planning further production cuts to drive prices back up. We have the knowledge, we have the technology, what America lacks is a plan. Jeff Wilson has a new book out that is beyond awesome. The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence NOW. He walks you through every aspect of oil, what it is used for besides gas, our depletion of it. The worlds increased need ie 3rd world countries becoming more modernized and consuming more. He explains EVERY alternative energy source and what role they can play to replace oil. His research is backed up with hard data and even includes a time frame and proposed legislative agendas to wean America off oil.

[Barry]

We need to get on about the business of becoming energy independent and using alternative sources of fuel. The high cost of gas this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. While we are doing the happy dance around the lower prices at the pumps OPEC is planning further production cuts to drive prices back up. We have the knowledge, we have the technology, what America lacks is a plan. Jeff Wilson has a new book out that is beyond awesome. The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence NOW. He walks you through every aspect of oil, what it is used for besides gas, our depletion of it. The worlds increased need ie 3rd world countries becoming more modernized and consuming more. He explains EVERY alternative energy source and what role they can play to replace oil. His research is backed up with hard data and even includes a time frame and proposed legislative agendas to wean America off oil. www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com

[Mike Williamson]

This is a great day. Waxman will be part of the process of change.

[Ken]

Feel good programs in the MORTGAGE business have created the current financial meltdown. The cause was the false economy and fraudulent computer modeling from wall street showing no one could lose. It was all based on a fraud. The fraud was backed by the government.

Taxing Carbon and creating multiple regulations based on the Fraud of Climate Change will create the next financial meltdown, perhaps our last.

Basing legislation on a feel good FRAUD has proven not to work. Will we learn? Probably not. The Dot Com crisis was built on fraud. The savings and loan crisis was built on fraud. Climate change fraud will cost us all even more.

[Rick Lettau]

Ken is right on the money! You people and your electric cars! The majority of power in the US comes from gas and coal fired plants, which under Mr. Obama's plan, are going to have to purchase carbon credits at a huge price, only to be passed onto the consumer. We already are short of the electricity that we need. Nuclear, ( if ever allowed to expand) is 10 years off. Wind and Solar right now are a pipe dream. They belong in the same category as ethynol.They are not efficient and cannot make up the amounts of power that we will need and come at a price that we cannot afford. It seems that as long as the government subsidizes it, it"s a good idea. You people better wake up!! Your world as you know it, is about to change. Can you say SOCIALISM!!!