Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) believes the November elections will likely weed out some of the "most difficult Democrats" that leadership lawmakers have dealt with this Congress.
In an interview with The Hill, the Energy and Commerce Committee chairman expressed confidence that Democrats will retain the House, and suggested he won't miss some of the Democrats who won't be back next year.
"I think a lot of the House seats we're going to lose are those who have been the toughest for the Democrats to pull into line -- the Democrats that have been the most difficult," Waxman said.
Waxman, one of the Democratic Party's stalwarts, is simply voicing publicly what many in his party have said privately as the reality of the looming November elections sets in. If Democrats retain a majority, it will be smaller but more cohesive.
As Waxman sees it, the fractious coalition of Democrats that House leaders have cobbled together to pass sweeping healthcare and energy bills is not markedly different from the bipartisanship of the past, when Democrats partnered with centrist and liberal Republicans, whom Waxman says are "practically nonexistent at the moment."
"We've been trying to get the Democratic conservatives together with the rest of the Democratic Party, so in effect we've gotten bipartisan support among Democrats in the House," the chairman said with a laugh. "Now we'll have to work on genuine bipartisanship in the future."
For much of the early part of his career, the liberal Waxman battled conservative Democrats from the South on the direction of the party. Years later, Waxman is still waging that fight, but now he wields the gavel of one of the most powerful panels in Congress. Waxman became chairman after successfully challenging Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the former chairman, in 2008.
Waxman has rewarded loyalty to the Democratic agenda through his leadership political action committee, L.A. PAC. Each of the 14 donations of $5,000 the committee made after the final healthcare vote in March went to Democrats who voted yes.
A single contribution of a lesser amount, $3,000, was sent in April to Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho), one of the party's most vulnerable members, who voted against the bill. In January, Waxman gave $10,000 to Rep. Zack Space (D-Ohio), a month after he voted for the initial House version of healthcare reform. Two months later, Space voted against the final bill.
Democratic conservatives serve little purpose for Waxman, who seemed to relish the thought that a strengthened GOP would mean that the minority party would have to play ball. |