On Climate Change, Henry Waxman Wants Congress to Act Now

Rep. Henry Waxman

He is, according to loyalists, a smart and strategic thinker, dogged in his pursuit of his goals. They say his private persona is a world apart from the public man on display when questioning witnesses, as he famously did in 1994 when he (an ex-smoker, aides say) confronted tobacco executives who, under oath, denied that smoking is addictive.

A longtime close friend, congressional expert Norm Ornstein, says the public may best know Waxman from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearings he led. There, Ornstein says, Waxman was "this stern guy wielding the gavel, trying to see justice done," with "people quaking in their boots sitting opposite him." Fewer know the private Waxman—a "real mensch," Ornstein says, and "a gentle, warm, nice guy."

Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, salutes Waxman as not only the best lawmaker on oversight in memory but as "one of the great legislators of the 20th century." Republicans, of course, strongly disagree. "Henry is very pugnacious in his beliefs," says House Republican Steve Buyer of Indiana, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee. "And he has been known to rub people the wrong way because of it."

Barton says Waxman has promised bipartisanship within the committee, where Democrats have 36 seats to the Republicans' 23, but has not yet delivered. Barton says GOP input would ensure a bipartisan bill that would stand the test of time, not a "political victory for the radical environmental left."

Short, bald, mustachioed, Waxman looks like someone who could have been a character actor if he'd chosen that path. His L.A. district, so reliably Democratic that he coasts to re-election, takes in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica, and other star-studded hamlets. But he shuns local galas such as the Academy Awards ceremony. "He likes to watch from home," says aide Karen Lightfoot. "He's very down to earth."

It was late last year, after the elections, that Waxman successfully challenged House Democrat John Dingell of Michigan, an advocate for the automotive industry, for the chairmanship of the energy committee. The panel has sweeping jurisdiction, taking in health-care reform (another top Waxman aim), interstate and foreign commerce, nuclear regulation, consumer safety, and even the Internet. Though seniority tends to rule for chairmanships, Waxman prevailed on a 137-to-122 vote of House Democrats. Though bold, Waxman's ascension doesn't mean advancing mandatory carbon reductions through Congress will be a slam-dunk. A measure failed in the Senate last year, and recent House proposals haven't gotten traction.

Waxman, though, has friends in high places: Obama in the White House and fellow Californian Nancy Pelosi in the speaker's chair in the House. Pelosi, who calls global warming the "greatest challenge of our time," hopes to hold a House vote on cap-and-trade this year. Not inconsequentially, Waxman's former chief of staff, Phil Schiliro, a savvy Hill player, was tapped by Obama to be his top congressional liaison.

Whether Waxman and his allies succeed in passing climate change legislation is not a sure thing. But if past is prologue, he'll give it all he's got. And he won't give up easily.

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