Democratic Leaders Face Test with Dingell-Waxman Dispute

Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) on Wednesday signaled his plans to seek the chairmanship of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee from Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.).

According to Democratic sources on and off Capitol Hill, Waxman telephoned Dingell this morning to tell him about the challenge, which if successful, would have implications for energy and climate change legislation during the first term of President-elect Barack Obama.

Waxman is seen as more aggressive on environmental issues than Dingell, the longest-serving House member and an outspoken proponent of the auto industry.  It remains unclear how serious Waxman is about taking Dingell's gavel away.

Waxman also may be proceeding under the assumption that Dingell is planning to stay put and that the Michigan Democrat presents a significant obstacle to the policy priorities of the incoming Obama administration.

On global warming, a Waxman-led committee would change the dynamics on the legislative push to pass a mandatory cap-and-trade program. A Waxman chairmanship would spell the end for the draft cap-and-trade bill that Chairman Dingell and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) released last month. Instead, Waxman's more aggressive Safe Climate Act would be seen as a principle vehicle for House action.

For House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Waxman's move represents a major test of her leadership as she has tangled previously with Dingell on energy and environmental issues.

House Democrats plan organizational meetings later this month as they prepare for the 111th Congress. Under House Democratic Caucus rules, Waxman would bring his challenge before the House Steering and Policy Committee, which includes senior Democratic lawmakers, committee leaders, regional representatives, and party leaders, all of whom have a larger number of votes than other members.

The person losing the chairman’s seat would have the option of making a challenge to the entire House Democratic Caucus, which would vote by secret ballot.

Contact David Hubbard.

Labor Presses for Card Check, Business Staunchly Oppose

In the last quarter century, organized labor has seen its rank-and-file membership reduced from 20 percent to 7.5 percent of private sector employment. 

Unions’ primary objective in the Democratic Congress and future Democratic Administration is to increase membership, and so, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as Card Check, is the most efficient, effective method to accomplish the goal.

John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, and Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, each sees the EFCA as the centerpiece of big labor’s agenda, and believes that passage of Card Check will help with economic woes. 

The business community, on the other hand, rightly argues that Card Check would be a tremendous burden on industry during a time when the economy needs to grow jobs.  R. Bruce Jostens, executive vice president of government affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, points out that the nation has an annual deficit somewhere between $750 billion and $1 trillion, further underscoring the fragility of the economy and the need for jobs creation.

Card Check would streamline union organizing by allowing employees to simply sign a card stating their desire to be represented in a collective bargaining agreement instead of the current secret ballot election process. 

Once 51percent of employees sign the cards, the company and the union have 120 days to reach an agreement.  If, after 120 days, there is a stalemate in negotiations, then federal mediation services will formulate a bargaining arrangement which will be binding on both parties for two years.

Contact Tom Harman.

Blunt Will Step Down from Republican Leadership Position

Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) announced yesterday that he will be stepping down from his leadership position.

Reports indicate that Representative Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the chief deputy minority whip, would seek the position.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who defeated Blunt in the January 2006 race to replace Tom DeLay (R-Texas) as then majority leader, issued a statement supporting Blunt's work as whip.

 "Roy has been one of the most effective whips ever to serve our House Republican team," Boehner said. "He has been a tremendous leader for our party, and we owe him credit and gratitude for countless victories we have achieved in the House during his tenure."

Contact Deidra Ciriello.

Majority Leader Expresses Support for Global Warming Panel

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has expressed support for renewing the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming for the 111th Congress.  

Funding and authorization for Chairman Edward Markey's (D-Mass.) select panel sunsets at the end of this year, but Hoyer said the climate change panel could serve Democrats and the incoming Obama administration well as they work on the complex environmental issue next year. The panel does not have legislative authority, an arrangement Hoyer said would not change.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) established the select committee shortly after Democrats won control of Congress in 2007, installing Markey, a close ally, in the panel's leadership post. During the last two years, Markey convened more than 50 hearings and investigated the Bush administration's decisions following the Supreme Court's March 2007 ruling on global warming.

Speaker Pelosi has not yet said what her plans are for Markey's committee, and a spokesman for the House speaker did not respond to requests for comment today about Hoyer's view.

Contact Deidra Ciriello.

California voters on Tuesday rejected two statewide alternative energy initiatives.

Nearly 65 percent of the electorate rejected Proposition 7, which would have required utilities to obtain half of the electricity they generate in 2025 from solar, wind, and geothermal energy facilities.

The measure would have imposed the aggressive renewable energy mandate on government-owned utilities, which are currently exempt from the state's ambitious 20 percent by 2010 renewable energy portfolio standard.

Proposition 10, a measure intended to raise $5 billion through the sale of revenue bonds, also failed.
State election results showed 59.8 percent of voters rejected the initiative, which would be used primarily to offset the cost of natural gas-fueled medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. of Seal Beach, a company founded by Texas industrialist T. Boone Pickens and which bankrolled the measure, said it would continue to help the state and the nation pursue efforts to curb the use of imported foreign oil.

Contact Deidra Ciriello.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Tuesday released a list of 13 urgent issues that need the attention of President-elect Obama and the 111th Congress.  They are:

• Oversight of financial institutions and markets,
• U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan,
• Protecting the homeland,
• Undisciplined defense spending,
• Improving the U.S. image abroad,
• Finalizing plans for the 2010 Census,
• Caring for service members,
• Preparing for public health emergencies,
• Revamping oversight of food safety,
• Restructuring the approach to surface transportation,
• Retirement of the Space Shuttle,
• Ensuring an effective transition to digital TV, and
• Rebuilding military readiness.

The GAO called for a restructuring of the federal approach to surface transportation, noting the following deficiencies:

• Under growing strain, the system requires hundreds of billions of dollars to fix
• Current investments have not provided the degree of improvement necessary
• Congestion issues are not being adequately addressed
• Most surface transportation programs are not effective at addressing key challenges
• Current gas tax revenues are not adequate to maintain the highway system

GAO also has provided information on a variety of other topics including agency issues, long term fiscal outlook etc. that need to be addressed.  Click here to view the report.

Contact John Sullivan.

Voters Approve Additional Transportation Funding

The elections this week resulted in more than $71 billion in additional funding for transportation infrastructure projects being approved by voters from 16 states, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. Of the 37 measures on ballots across the United States, 27 were approved by voters. The funding measures approved consist of bonds, new, increased, extended or renewed taxes, changes to current funding levels, and advisory questions.

One project of particular interest is a $9.95 billion bond issue to begin construction of a high-speed rail system linking southern California counties, the Sacramento/San Joaquin Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

With almost 96 percent of precincts reporting, Proposition 1A, the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Train Bond Act, had garnered 52.3 percent of the vote, with 47.7 percent voting against the measure.

The measure allows the state to issue $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds to fund pre-construction activities and the construction of a high-speed train system in California. Phase One of the project is the corridor between San Francisco Transbay Terminal, Los Angeles Union Station, and Anaheim, in Orange County. The high-speed system aims to compete with air travel by delivering passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in two-and-a-half hours.

The authority and other backers of the project claim construction of a 220-mile-an-hour rail system linking all of the major population centers of the state will reduce freeway congestion and related automobile emissions, cut use of foreign oil, and create 160,000 construction-related jobs and 450,000 new, permanent jobs.

Please click here to view a list of the specific approved and rejected projects.
 
Contact Kevin Walgenbach, David Hubbard or Leif Wathne.

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