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A group of Republicans and Democrats may vote for Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell to be the new House speaker in shows of defiance against their own party's leadership.A number of Republicans and some Democrats are considering a protest vote against Nancy Pelosi for House speaker when lawmakers convene Tuesday afternoon to launch the 111th Congress, FOX News has learned. Once the House is sworn in, one of its first orders of business is to elect a speaker, a vote taken by the entire Congress. The vote usually goes along party lines. Pelosi will run for the Democrats while Republicans...

As long as I can remember Rep. John Dingell, D-MI, was one of the toughest committee chairmen in the Congress. His father preceded him in U.S. Congress during the Great Depression. I had the pleasure of visiting with him one day while Republicans controlled the Congress. He made it clear he was staying around because he again wanted to be a committee chairman.

Forget the Republican filibuster and the race to 60. The real fight in the next Congress is Democrats vs. themselves. With nearly complete control of Washington for the first time in three decades, Democrats are entering a treacherous power zone in which many of their priorities could easily be undone by the geographic, demographic and ideological factions that compete for supremacy within the party. Unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can whip their caucuses into unity, numerous fault lines will be revealed: Southern Democrats vs. Northern liberals on labor law; California greens vs....

Henry Waxman moved to consolidate his coup d'etat at the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee just hours after he was installed as the new chairman this week. It appears that the California liberal, with his customary subtlety, is plotting a night of the climate-change long knives... Democrats dumped the current Chairman John Dingell because he does not favor global-warming action aggressive enough to suit the party's green wing. Now his lieutenants, who've been known to share his views, are targets too. ... But the Dingell ally who should be looking over his shoulder most nervously is Rick Boucher, chairman...

By a vote of 137-22 among Democrats in the House of Representatives Thursday, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., ousted Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., as the chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee. Waxman's victory is a seismic event on Capitol Hill, as he has unseated one of the most powerful members of Congress, who since 1981 has been the top Democrat on the influential Energy and Commerce Committee. But it was not entirely unexpected. Wednesday, the party's panel that votes on committee chairmanships gave Waxman the nod by a 25-22 vote. However, it's also a signal that Democrats...

Representative Henry A. Waxman wrested the chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee from Representative John D. Dingell on Thursday in a coup that is expected to accelerate passage of energy, climate and health legislation backed by President-elect Barack Obama. Mr. Waxman, 69, of California, who mounted a quiet but devastatingly effective two-week campaign against his longtime Democratic colleague, won the chairmanship with a 137-to-122 vote in the Democratic Caucus. The vote was secret, but many allies of Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed Mr. Waxman’s move, and several members said they had voted on the assumption that Ms. Pelosi...

Sitting chairmen are nearly impossible to depose, never mind one with the seniority and record of Mr. Dingell, who has served longer than anyone else in the House. The Democratic caucus nonetheless stripped him of his 28-year position atop the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has great power over the climate change and health-care bills that Mr. Obama hopes to pass next year. Instead, California's Henry Waxman, who was elected by a reported 137 to 122, will do the honors. (We say "reported" because the vote was by secret ballot, which in a rich irony Democrats want to prevent for...

WASHINGTON – Rep. Henry Waxman — a liberal ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi — has wrested the chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee from veteran Rep. John Dingell when the new Congress convenes in January. Waxman, a California liberal and avid environmentalist and booster of health care programs, toppled Dingell Thursday on a vote of 137-122 in the Democratic Party caucus, capping a bitter fight within party ranks. Dingell has been the top Democrat on the panel for 28 years and is an old-school supporter of the auto industry. Waxman has complained that the committee has been...

Waxman dethrones Dingell as chairman By: Patrick O'Connor November 20, 2008 10:58 AM EST California Rep. Henry A. Waxman on Thursday officially dethroned longtime Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, upending a seniority system that has governed Democratic politics in the House for decades. In a secret ballot vote in the Cannon Caucus Room, House Democrats ratified an earlier decision by the Steering and Policy Committee to replace the 82-year-old Dingell with his 69-year-old rival. The vote was 137-122 in favor of Waxman. The ascension of Waxman, a wily environmentalist, recasts a committee that Dingell has chaired since 1981 with...

Waxman unseats Dingell as House energy committee chairTo the delight of many environmental groups across the country, California Democrat Henry Waxman has ousted fellow Democrat John Dingell of Michigan from his post as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The 255-member House Democratic conference voted 137 to 122 Thursday to replace Rep. Dingell, a close ally of the auto industry, with Waxman, a longtime champion of environmental causes. The vote places Waxman in charge of a panel with one of the broadest jurisdictions of any congressional committee, responsible for legislative oversight relating to consumer protection, food and...

Waxman wrestles gavel from Dingell By Mike Soraghan Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) will become the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee after House Democrats voted to replace current Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.). Waxman won 137-122 in the secret ballot vote. The dramatic intra-party showdown for the coveted position signals a leftward turn for the Democratic agenda. The outcome was a blow to the seniority system and a victory, at least in perception, for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Though her aides denied it, many saw the hand of Pelosi in Waxman’s challenge for the post, which conveys...

WXYZ) ABC News is reporting that House Democratic leaders have voted to strip Michigan Representative John Dingell of his chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce committee. The entire House Democratic caucus will have to vote on this tomorrow morning. The secret ballot vote of the House steering committee was 25 to 22. Dingell is the longest serving Democratic member of the House.

WASHINGTON --- In a major win for environmentalists, a committee of House Democratic leaders on Wednesday voted to put Rep. Henry Waxman in charge of a key panel that will have oversight over global warming issues in the new Congress. The House Steering committee voted 25-22 to put the California Democrat in charge of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, replacing Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell, the most senior member in the House. The House Democratic caucus will vote on Thursday. The Waxman-Dingell battle has been closely watched on Capitol Hill. Waxman is regarded as an ally of environmentalists while...

No one outside of Washington Beltway types seems to be paying attention to a fight in a small corner of Congress. That's unfortunate, because whoever wins will set the tone not only of the 111th Congress but will determine in large part how the Obama administration will fare in its critical first two years. The clash is for boss of one of the most powerful positions in the new Congress, the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The challenger is Rep. Henry Waxman, an outspoken California Democrat; the lion who is (barely) holding onto his scepter is Rep....

The choice of Phil Schiliro , a longtime investigator for Representative Henry Waxman who will serve in the Obama administration as the head of the White house legislative affairs office, does not bode well for Obama's stated goal of "bi-partisan" government. Waxman has long used his Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the principal investigative committee in the House, to rail against Republicans and business... The chairman of that committee is the only person in Congress who has unilateral power to issue subpoenas without a committee vote... He is known for his brutal and relentless questioning style. Once he has...

Some long-time committee heads are replaced in order to advance Obama’s agenda. *snip* At issue is whether some senior Democrats – viewed as out of line with the legislative agenda of a new president or otherwise unfit for the job – get to keep their gavels. *snip* On the House side, a leadership battle is shaping up on the Energy and Commerce committee between its chairman, 27-term Rep. John Dingell (D) of Michigan and 17-term Rep. Henry Waxman (D) of California, ......*snip*. Mr. Dingell’s defense of the auto industry and opposition to broad climate change legislation in the past put...

Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman made a bold power play Wednesday by signaling that he will challenge Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, the dean of the House of Representatives, for chairmanship of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee.In challenging Rep. Dingell, Rep. Waxman is seeking to upend a long Democratic Party tradition of assigning chairmanships based on seniority. Rep. Dingell joined the House in 1955 and is the second-longest-serving member in the chamber's history. Henry Waxman The move could become part of a broader realignment of the party's leadership in Washington, as the country begins the transition to a Democratic administration....

California's Henry Waxman unleashed a surprise attack Wednesday against fellow Democrat John Dingell of Michigan.Each wants to lead the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee; Dingell is now chairman.The panel will be extremely important in 2009, when President Barack Obama unveils his plans to dramatically alter America's energy strategy.Obama correctly wants to push renewables, something dear to Waxman's heart.Dingell, on the other hand, has been a longtime supporter of the Big 3 auto companies. He succeeded for years in fending off congressional attempts to require higher fuel efficiency from U.S. vehicles.In Waxman's attack against Dingell, he said in part:...

This puts the Californian in a direct conflict with Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell (Mich.), the dean of the House and a long-time Waxman rival, for the top spot of one of the most powerful committees in Congress.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chastised the Pentagon for “actions leading to the dissemination of biased and one-sided opinions on the war on terror.” The FCC ruling came in response to complaints from Representatives Rosa L. DeLauro, (D-Conn.) and John Dingell, (D-Mich.). “This is George Bush’s war,” Dingell said. “Every time some general or one of his lackeys bad-mouths al Qaeda or the Taliban it’s like a political endorsement of his Republican administration’s policies. This is impermissible political speech. We have requested that the FCC put a stop to it.” At issue is the Pentagon’s habit of allowing retired personnel...