Giving Dingell His Due
Via Neil Sinhababu, I see that Henry Waxman is being classy, smart, and savvy all at once making nice with John Dingell:
Under terms announced Thursday, Michigan Rep. John D. Dingell will take the lead on all major health care initiatives before the committee in the next Congress and have a say in personnel matters as part of an agreement worked out with his successor. [...] By granting Dingell a role as “the lead sponsor” of whatever national health care legislation the committee considers, Waxman is giving the Dean of the House the chance to cap his historic career by realizing his father’s goal of universal health care coverage – Dingell’s father, a former House member, first introduced legislation creating national health insurance in 1943.
“I intend to be an active and enthusiastic leader on the Committee and I appreciate the efforts of Chairman Waxman to partner with me as we move into the 111th Congress,” Dingell said in the release. “Henry and I have been able to work together in the past and agreed on most issues, and even in areas where we have disagreed, together we have passed important legislation.”
The crux of the Dingell-Waxman fight for control of the House Energy and Commerce committee was climate change, where Dingell’s views are decidedly unprogressive. But the committee has extremely broad jurisdiction, including a substantial role in health care, and Dingell is a strong progressive voice on that issue. This will let Dingell end his career with dignity and, hopefully, end it by playing a major role in the sort of successful reform effort that the Dingells have been calling for for decades.
22 Responses to “Giving Dingell His Due”
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December 21st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Good to hear. I was honestly ambivalent about the Waxman/Dingell fight, because as good as Waxman is on the environment, he’s not as strong on health care and workers issues as Dingell is, especially when you consider that his district is very wealthy and Dingell’s is much more blue-collar.
December 21st, 2008 at 6:53 pm
“Dingell-Baucus” has an historical ring to it.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I was hoping for this outcome.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pm
“Dingell-Baucus” has an historical ring to it.”
Sure does look that way at the moment…
December 21st, 2008 at 10:43 pm
“The crux of the Dingell-Waxman fight for control of the House Energy and Commerce committee was climate change, where Dingell’s views are decidedly unprogressive. ”
That and money. I saw an interesting presentation of some research on fund raising, and in particular, on the spread of a model that originated in California (with Waxman being one of the entrepreneurs, ironically). The basic gist is that thirty years or so ago some politicians figured out that one way to get moved up the chain is by donating money to their peers. Ultimately, this arrangement was formalized (first by the GOP, although the practice itself came from the Democratic state house in California), with Congressmen expected to meet certain levels of giving to other party members to gain certain seats. Waxman is a pro at this stuff; Dingell wasn’t; indeed, Dingell wasn’t paying much attention to this at all, until he started getting flanked by Waxman. [The research was conducted by Elanor Powell, a graduate student at Harvard: http://www.gov.harvard.edu/student/epowell/
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:56 am
I hope that Dingell’s people don’t get to Ms. Palmieri about this one, too, Matt.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
No, Bill, this is CAP’s way of teaching Dingell a lesson. He didn’t “partner” with CAP, and now they’re showing him what happens when they don’t “respect” your “work product”.
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Oh joy, Dingell will get to introduce the same futile single-payer health care bill that he’s introduced every Congress for the last 50-some years. Thanks John, we really appriciate your efforts on this one. You are a paragon of effective legislative leadership.
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