10 Things You Didn't Know About Henry Waxman
- Henry Waxman was born on Sept. 12, 1939, in Los Angeles. His parents were children of Jewish immigrants, and his father, a fan of Franklin Roosevelt, worked as a grocer.
- Waxman graduated from UCLA in 1961 with a degree in political science. He received his juris doctor from UCLA Law School in 1964. In college, he was a member of the Young Democrats.
- Before entering Congress in 1974 as a Democrat, Waxman served three terms in the California State Assembly. He was chairman of the Health Committee, the Committee on Elections and Reapportionment, and the Select Committee on Medical Malpractice.
- Despite being a former smoker, Waxman fought for tobacco regulation for years. In 1994, he forced seven tobacco-company CEOs to swear under oath that nicotine was not addictive.
- A leader on environmental issues, he introduced the first climate bill in Congress in 1992.
- Waxman stands 5 feet, 5 inches tall.
- The wall space behind Waxman's desk is adorned with copies of bills he has passed in Washington. The copies are framed alongside the pens he used to sign them.
- Waxman is married to Janet Kessler. They have a daughter and four grandchildren.
- He became the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2008 after defeating Michigan Rep. John Dingell, 137 to 122, in a secret vote by House Democrats. Dingell is the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives.
- Although the district Waxman represents includes West Hollywood, he has never attended the Academy Awards ceremony.
Sources:
- Waxman.house.gov
- Washington Monthly
- Congress.org
Reader Comments
Waxman
Has Mr. Waxman ever done anything but occupy a public office? I am so sick and tired of "career time" politicians. The longer they are politicians, the more they seem to lie and sell out the American People. I doubt if most of them would survice in the private sector.
MR. WAXMAN
HE LOOKS LIKE HE HAS A NOSE FOR PORKBARREL SPENDING PERHAPS THE REASON CALIFORNIA IS IN SUCH DIRE FINANCIAL SHAPE!!!!!
Cult-Evangelicals in Congress & Health Care Reform
A MUST-READ: "Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism" by Michelle Goldberg (2006), NY: W.W. Norton.
There is NO proposal for a government take-over of health care. I am a military veteran and my government-run VA system serves me very very well. President Obama WANTS the private insurance companies to continue and prosper (we have 1200 of them in the U.S.), but he also doesn't want them to work against the good of the U.S. economy or the people they are supposed to serve, so he is proposing modest regulations (no refusal for pre-existing conditions, no refusal to pay for treatments a patient's doctor recommends, stuff like this. The insurance industry spends $60BILLION every year to find ways to deny claims just to increase their profit margins---they are the villains in this effort to reform. Read website: Lee Fang July 31st 2009 (article exposing FreedomWorks'and Americans for Prosperity's ties to big oil/fatcat insurance lobbyists (DLA Piper for Dick Armey, serving Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirate; Koch Family Foundation (oil industrialists) for Tim Phillips, who provides buses and scripts for the fake "protest" groups. Newt Gingrich (ASWF) provides "took kits" of "talking points". http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobb...
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