Waxman to Chair House Energy and Commerce

Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) prevailed in a 137-122 vote of House Democratic Caucus members to become the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He replaces Representative John Dingell (D-MI) who had been chairman of the committee that oversees many of the issues important to the aging network including health care reform. Environmental issues are also within the committee's jurisdiction. Congressman Dingell was named chairman emeritus allowing him to retain his office in the capitol and he is expected to become chairman of one of the committee's subcommittees - possibly Energy and Air Quality or Health.

As Chairman Waxman takes over Energy and Commerce, he relinquishes chairmanship of House Oversight and Government Reform. The ranking Democratic member of the committee is Representative Edolphus Towns (D-NY) who has declared his intention to seek the chairmanship. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. This committee is important to the aging network because of its jurisdiction to investigate any federal program and any matter with federal policy implications. The Oversight Committee has conducted numerous investigations and hearings into a wide range of topics from the economy to Medicare. As one example of the investigations, in July of this year Medicare Part D plans were found to be unable to obtain significant price reductions for prescription drugs, resulting in billions of dollars in excess taxpayer costs.