Free Republic

This happened yesterday and so far there’s no video: California Rep. Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the coauthor of the 2009 cap-and-trade climate change bill, decried efforts by the GOP to force the Obama administration into approving a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.“They want to use legislation as a way to act like terrorists. They hold things as hostage,” Waxman said. “We almost couldn’t fund the government because Republicans wanted to hold that idea hostage, we almost couldn’t pay our debts because the Republicans wanted to hold that legislation hostage to...

Waxman: GOP 'so stupid' to include Keystone pipeline in payroll tax packageBy Mike Lillis - 01/26/12 05:15 PM ET A senior Democrat on the payroll tax conference panel had some strong words Thursday for Republicans hoping to attach Keystone pipeline language to the package. "That is so stupid, already, for them to be pushing the Keystone pipeline issue in this bill, in this conference," Rep. Henry Waxman told reporters gathered near the Chesapeake Bay for the Democrats' annual caucus retreat. "The pipeline issue is one that the Republicans are obsessing over." The California Democrat suggested that a provision forcing approval...

Politics January 25, 2012 'I'm The Chairman!' Waxman Gets Chewed Out During Keystone Hearing Fire it up 80 Share “Are you calling the Koch brothers during the recess?” Angered by Waxman’s political posturing, Whitfield took a shot at the Obama Administration and Solyndra. “If you want to talk about that, let’s talk about the millions of dollars the Obama administration gave companies like Solyndra and people like George Kaiser and other campaign bundlers,” Whitfield fumed. “Why are you interrupting members and then you take unlimited time for yourself?” Waxman responded. “I’m the chairman! And I’m telling you right now we’re...

The National Climate Ethics Campaign is pleased to announce that the "Statement of Our Nation’s Moral Obligation to Address Climate Change" will be released Wednesday, November 30 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. in Room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building (The Environment and Public Works Hearing Room). There are now over 1200 signers on the climate ethics statement. Please send the message pasted below to organizations, listservs, and people that might endorse it.

Waxman to Issa: Get Solyndra facts straightBy Ben Geman - 09/27/11 07:32 AM ET Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is rebutting House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) claim that Waxman helped the now-bankrupt solar company Solyndra secure its $535 million federal loan guarantee. Waxman said in a letter to Issa on Monday that he had no role in the financing. “I am writing to let you know that I had no involvement in the selection of the Solyndra loan. In fact, the first time I met with representatives from Solyndra was in July 2011, when the company’s...

Democrats working to explain the loss of a ‘safe’ congressional seat in this week’s special election to replace disgraced New York Rep. Anthony Weiner have come up with some startling conclusions. California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, a prominent Jewish congressman, explained that some Jews are selecting not to vote for Democrats because “they want to protect their wealth, which is why a lot of well-off voters vote for Republicans.” One of the more common narratives emerging after the election in New York’s 9th Congressional District is that the district’s large Jewish population was alienated by President Obama’s policies on Israel,...

Republican Bob Turner is poised to win the the special election in NY-9 today and loathsome Democrat Henry Waxman offers his unique spin why Jewish voters are fleeing Obama in droves.

The top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday urged Energy Secretary Steven Chu to launch a national climate-change-education campaign. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), in a letter to Chu, said the public’s understanding of climate change is “diminishing” in part because there are “powerful vested interests in the oil and coal industries successfully fanning disbelief.”

Waxman calls for national climate-change-education push By Andrew Restuccia - 07/20/11 10:16 AM ET The top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday urged Energy Secretary Steven Chu to launch a national climate-change-education campaign. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), in a letter to Chu, said the public’s understanding of climate change is “diminishing” in part because there are “powerful vested interests in the oil and coal industries successfully fanning disbelief.” “I ask you to investigate the disconnect that appears to be growing between the scientific and the public understanding of climate change,” Waxman said. “I hope you will...

Report: $6B missing in Iraq may have been stolenBy Tucker Reals June 14, 2011 7:35 AM The man Congress put in charge of auditing the billions of dollars dumped on Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled has told the Los Angels Times he can't rule out the possibility that $6.6 billion in cash sent from the U.S. was stolen. Special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen told the Times the missing money may represent "the largest theft of funds in national history." It was not, it is crucial to note here, U.S. tax-payer dollars which have gone missing in...

Democratic U.S. lawmakers have asked Congressional panels to look into whether Koch, an energy company led by brothers who are powerhouses in conservative politics, will benefit if the Obama administration approves a $7 billion pipeline to bring crude from Canada into the United States. U.S. Representatives Henry Waxman and Bobby Rush wrote a letter on Friday to Republicans chairing the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and one of its subcommittees, asking them to request documents from Koch Industries regarding the extent to which the company would benefit if the Keystone XL oil sands line would be built. Privately held...

California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman was among the loudest proponents of whistleblower protections during the Bush years ̶ particularly when the subject was the Iraq war ̶ but GOP staffers say his attitude seems to have changed with the shift to a Democratic administration. Waxman spoke out loudly for protecting whistleblowers from “incompetent management” (Snip) Waxman chose to ignore a large stamp stating “NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE” on a series of emails between Dan Grazer, the data manager for the NRC’s Yucca Mountain licensing program, and Judge Roy Hawkins, the chief administrative judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board,

Jim Inhofe to Democrats: 'Get a life'By DARREN GOODE | 4/5/11 3:08 PM EDT Sen. Jim Inhofe has a simple message to House Democratic critics of the Republican plan to derail EPA climate change regulations: “Get a life.” The Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member wasn’t amused by the series of snarky Democratic amendments to rename the GOP legislation preventing EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) offered a series of amendments to the House measure — which Inhofe is pushing in the Senate — to change the title of the...

Rep. Waxman: Climate Change is 'Moral Issue' Comparable To Civil Rights Monday, March 07, 2011 By Eric Scheiner (CNSNews.com) - During a speech at the Center for American Progress Monday, Rep. Henry Waxman claimed that climate change is a “moral issue” while criticizing the GOP for their attempts to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Republicans have adopted “anti-science views” and compared the climate change issue to the debate in America on civil rights. “Climate change is an environmental issue, it’s an economic...

The Republican Party is the “party of science deniers,” a top House Democrat said Monday. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), an ardent proponent of climate-change legislation, criticized Republicans for their attempts to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions during a speech at the Center for American Progress Monday. “I’ve never been in a Congress where there was such an overwhelming disconnect between science and policy,” Waxman, the former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said. “Republicans in Congress have become the party of science deniers, and that is profoundly dangerous,” he said. Waxman lamented...

The Republican Party is the “party of science deniers,” a top House Democrat said Monday. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), an ardent proponent of climate-change legislation, criticized Republicans for their attempts to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions during a speech at the Center for American Progress Monday. “I’ve never been in a Congress where there was such an overwhelming disconnect between science and policy,” Waxman, the former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said. “Republicans in Congress have become the party of science deniers, and that is profoundly dangerous,” he said. Waxman lamented...

House Republicans are vowing to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from taking a unilateral approach on global warming and imposing strict new regulations that could impact broad segments of the economy. They are holding a hearing Tuesday about a new GOP bill aimed at stopping the EPA in its tracks. But the hearing appeared to be difficult for the former chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman. Waxman is the architect of the cap-and-trade legislation that passed the House in the last Congress and has long fought for strict new rules to address climate change. Waxman appeared...

One year after federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation in to Toyota's unintended acceleration safety issues, a ten month investigation came to the conclusion that there were no electronic flaws that led to accidents involving Toyota vehicles. The causes were attributed to driver error and sticky accelerator pedals and floor mats. These were the exact causes that Toyota pointed to when congressional leaders decided to attack the automaker at a time when General Motors was struggling to regain sales after exiting its bankruptcy. The SEC subpoenaed documents from Toyota back in February of 2010 when the criminal investigation began. Members...

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has...

House Dem says Oversight panel on healthcare law 'fishing expedition'By Jason Millman - 02/03/11 12:35 PM ET The ranking Democrat on a powerful House committee is accusing the new Republican leadership of abusing its investigatory powers after they launched several investigations into the new healthcare reform law. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said he supports oversight, but believes the Republican efforts on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are politically motivated and probe too deep. “I do not believe your oversight powers justify going on fishing expeditions or making extensive requests for internal e-mails and other communications where there is no...

The House Republican majority has said it will require members to cite the specific authority for any bill they introduce.House Democrats are lining up to ridicule a closely related rule that the Republican majority has said it will adopt, requiring members to cite the specific constitutional authority for any bill they introduce. "It's an air kiss they're blowing to the tea party," says Barney Frank, outgoing chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Henry Waxman, outgoing chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, all but dismissed any role for Congress in assessing the constitutionality of its actions: "Whether it...

Elijah Cummings: I'm ready for Darrell IssaBy JAKE SHERMAN | 12/30/10 4:33 AM EST Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) has a message for House Republicans ready to launch a slew of new investigations next year: Bring it on. With Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) chairing the powerful Government Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings is poised to be a frequent presence on television and a foil to an aggressive Republican majority which has vowed staunch oversight of the executive branch. “I live in the neighborhood where The Wire was filmed,” Cummings says, trying to project some of his Baltimore toughness as he takes...

VIDEO HERE.

In January, the documentary Gasland won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary attacked the process of “fracking,” which involves pumping a solution that is 99 percent sand and water, plus a few trace chemicals, underground at high pressure. This creates fractures in the rock formations that allow oil and gas to flow to collection points. The film claimed that the process pollutes groundwater with devastating consequences. (For more on Gasland and fracking, see this article from the Examiner’s “Big Green” series in September.) Multiple EPA studies have shown fracking is safe and effective, but the...

LOS ANGELES – California 30th Congressional District candidate Charles “Chuck” Wilkerson is calling for a U.S. Justice Department probe into official conduct by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman that helped an American anti war group gain entry into Iraq where it distributed aid to families of insurgents fighting U.S. troops. “The letter posted by Andrew Breitbart today is a smoking gun,” Wilkerson said today. “It’s bad enough having Henry Waxman vote against funding our troops in combat, but to actively assist getting aid to people who killed and wounded Americans on the battlefield is beyond forgiveness. If aid and comfort were...

Last week, American Thinker published evidence that Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-CA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) made it possible in 2004 for Code Pink and other radical groups to deliver $600,000 in cash and supplies to enemy insurgents and their families in Fallujah. Two days later, Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson posted the diplomatic letter Waxman wrote to assist Code Pink's mission. Waxman's Republican opponent, Korean War veteran and former Marine Chuck Wilkerson, calls the letter a "smoking gun." He adds, " ... to actively assist getting aid to people who killed and...

[excerpt] These would be the four Democrats [Sen. Barbara Boxer (D, CA); Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA-30); Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D, OH-10); and Rep. Raul Grijavla (D, AZ-07)] who provided letters of introduction and support to the pro-terrorist groups Code Pink/Global Exchange in 2004.  Those groups used these letters to facilitate their delivery over a half a million dollars’ worth of aid to terrorists in Fallujah actively fighting American troops; which is, by the way, treason by any reasonable interpretation of the US Constitution.... [end excerpt]  

It should be noted that the so-called “peace activists” at the Code Pink organization are anything but peace activists. These anti-American radicals and Marxists supported the mass murderer Saddam Hussein who ran one of the most brutal regimes in the 20th century. Code Pink activists currently support the illegitimate Iranian regime, the Marxist Chavez regime in Venezuela and have even met with Taliban Islamists. “Code Pink Kills American Troops Giving Money to Terrorists” (Target of Opportunity photo) Today, as CODEPINK was busily preparing a year-end humanitarian mission to Iraq, we received an urgent message. It was from our dear friend...

A concerned Blue Star Mother was told by a spokeswoman for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) that Waxman “did not intend to assist insurgents” in Iraq when he provided a diplomatic letter in December 2004 to Code Pink’s parent organization Global Exchange. However, Waxman apparently made no effort to ensure the reported $100,000 in cash and $500,000 in humanitarian aid was not delivered to terrorists, even after Code Pink and Global Exchange co-founder Medea Benjamin bragged at the time that the aid was intended for families of the “other side” in Fallujah. (Top Democrat fundraiser and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans...

New information is emerging about efforts by major Democratic Party figures to undercut American war efforts in Iraq by providing aid to the insurgents.  Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson's article Treason in America details how a coalition of radical organizations, including US-based Code Pink, delivered some $600,000 in cash and supplies to insurgents and their families in Fallujah, just days after 51 American troops were killed there in some of the bloodiest action of the Iraq war.  An approving article published in Islam Online tipped off the connection between the anti-American Global Exchange coalition and the Democrats who made their venture...

Meet ‘Baghdad Barbara,’ ‘Weasel Waxman,’ and ‘Jihad Jodie’In November and December of 2004, U.S. Marines were involved in the heaviest urban combat since the Vietnam War as they went house-to-house rooting out insurgents in the terror stronghold of Fallujah, Iraq. In all, fifty-one brave Americans would be killed and 560 wounded in the battle that would be the bloodiest of the Iraq War but one which would eventually turn the tide toward victory in Iraq and signal a significant defeat for America's radical Islamic enemies.Shockingly and tragically, at the same time our servicemen were staring into the eyes of evil,...

In a dramatic move, Rep. Henry Waxman on Wednesday said the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should use its power to regulate Internet service providers.Waxman’s (D-Calif.) decision, which came after Republicans said they could not support legislation he was drafting, could change the debate over a cornerstone of President Obama’s policies on technology and the Internet. The move by the powerful chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee gives political cover to the FCC to move forward with “reclassification” of telecom services, which could place cable- and telephone-company broadband businesses under certain telephone strictures.Waxman has not previously endorsed action...

Angered by the lack of news coverage of Chuck Wilkerson, Henry Waxman's opponent in California's 30th congressional district, some brave and frustrated kids have launched a website -- including a spot-on web ad -- to support Wilkerson and fight back against Waxman's relentless spending that they feel is squandering their future.

Just as the government is trying to prevent people from investing in anything other than T-Bills by raising taxes on taxable interest and dividends to confiscatory levels, it's also trying to prevent you from parking your wealth in assets, like gold, that compete with the paper dollars issued by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury. A press release from Rep. Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York, not yet (as of this instant) posted on Mr. Weiner's Web site, announces that a September 23 hearing of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection (a subcommittee of Rep. Henry Waxman's Commerce...

Congressmen Weiner and Waxman Set Gold Hearing

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said he would support continuing the separate global warming committee helmed by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the next Congress. Waxman, a political ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming created in 2007 “served a very useful purpose and I wouldn’t object to it being continued.”

From a man who experienced all he needs to know about a major f#%k-up of a party during the Carter years: [VIDEO AT SITE] And the spin? Well, its a good thing that we're gonna get our asses handed to us because we needed to get rid of some those hard-headed Democrats anyways: 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...

Gordon Pape is editor and publisher of The Canada Report. One of the most powerful members of the House of Representatives has launched a campaign against a proposed new pipeline to carry oil sands production to Texas. But his real objective appears to be to put pressure on the Canadian government to adopt tougher policies on greenhouse gas emissions or face an American boycott that could halt any further oil sands development in its tracks.

WASHINGTON — Channeling the nation's anger, lawmakers pilloried BP's boss in a withering day of judgment Thursday for the oil company at the center of the Gulf calamity. Unflinching, BP chief executive Tony Hayward said he was out of the loop on decisions at the well and coolly asserted, "I'm not stonewalling." That infuriated members of Congress even more, Democrats and Republicans alike. Testifying as oil still surged into the Gulf of Mexico and coated ever more coastal land and marshes, Hayward declared "I am so devastated with this accident," ''deeply sorry" and "so distraught." Yet the oil man disclaimed...

Congress grills oil execs on "cookie-cutter" plans for major spillH. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer Last Modified: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 10:11 a.m. WASHINGTON — Top executives from four major oil companies questioned the design and drilling strategy Tuesday of BP's ill-fated Deepwater Horizon well and told lawmakers they would have drilled it differently. But the executives, facing sharp questions at a House hearing, conceded that the entire industry was not well-equipped to deal with a major blowout a mile under water and that the emphasis in well-drilling must be on preventing a such a disastrous accident in the...

BP made a series of money-saving shortcuts and blunders that dramatically increased the danger of a destructive oil spill in a well that an engineer ominously described as a "nightmare" just six days before the blowout, according to documents released Monday that provide new insight into the causes of the disaster. The House Energy and Commerce Committee released dozens of internal documents that outline several problems on the deepsea rig in the days and weeks before the April 20 explosion that set in motion the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Investigators found that BP was badly behind schedule on...

Charismatic Charmer, Henry Waxman & Obama, "America's Turd In The Punchbowl", is getting steamed On Friday, Congressman Henry Waxman D CA, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Finance, was on the floor pleading with Democrat Congressional members they need to push for an immediate 22.9 Billion Dollar 'Fix' for Medicare to cover doctor's fees. The Bill that was supposed to lower the cost of Health Care has now shown itself to have costs that are spiraling out of control: Barack assured the nation upon signing the Health Care Bill, “This legislation will lower costs for families and for...

A finance reform bill called the "Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009" (H.R. 4173), which recently passed in the House of Representatives, now includes a strange addition by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA). Waxman seems to believe the dietary supplement industry should be regulated like the pharmaceutical industry. The language he wants in the bill can be used to get around the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), the legislation that governs dietary supplement regulation by the FDA. The new language would give new powers to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), allowing it to circumvent key supplement...

Nothing says Washington crookedness like a congressman slipping a clause into a bill that has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the main purpose of the legislation. Here we have just another cynical, corrupt bargain made in Washington D.C. with the effort of Henry Waxman (D, Ca) who slipped a little clause into the Wall Street "Reform" bill that is little else but an attack on the healthfood industry. This provision would give Congress more control over all health supplements and vitamins in America and likely lead to many of these businesses shutting their doors. So often Congress acts like...

(NaturalNews) Of all the sneaky tactics practiced in Washington D.C., this recent action by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is one of the most insidious: While no one was looking, he injected amendment language into the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) that would expand the powers of the FTC (not the FDA, but the FTC) to terrorize nutritional supplement companies by greatly expanding the power of the FTC to make its own laws that target dietary supplement companies. This is a little-known secret about the FTC and the nutritional supplements business: The FTC routinely targets...

Mike Adams Natural News April 30, 2010 Of all the sneaky tactics practiced in Washington D.C., this recent action by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is one of the most insidious: While no one was looking, he injected amendment language into the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173) that would expand the powers of the FTC (not the FDA, but the FTC) to terrorize nutritional supplement companies by greatly expanding the power of the FTC to make its own laws that target dietary supplement companies. Congressman Henry Waxman wants to give the FTC even more powers...

Immediately after President Obama signed his health-care bill into law, several large companies disclosed to investors just how big the tax hit from it would be. AT&T, for instance, said that the law’s tax increases alone would cost the company $1 billion. Key committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, California Democrat — whose energetic investigations are loathed by many in Washington — demanded reams of documents to investigate whether the companies were making a political show out of the cost disclosures. And then … nothing. Waxman at the last minute canceled a hearing to grill executives about the issue.

Health Reform: It turns out that House energy panel Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., was wrong in calling American businesses liars. He and some of his colleagues should look in the mirror — if they can stand it. Whether it's Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., repeatedly using four-letter words as he did Tuesday while bullying executives of Goldman Sachs, or oilmen getting dragged to Capitol Hill to be groundlessly accused of price-gouging, the liberal politicians now running Washington would have no agenda if it weren't for evil corporations. A few weeks ago, Waxman, D-Calif., and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of Energy's...

You recall Waxman's outrage over large companies, such as AT&T, informing its shareholders that they will be taking large hits due to ObamaCare: After the passage of the health care reform bill, some public corporations announced the bill would have adverse affects on how they do business. Deere & Co. announced that it would cost them an additional $150M in expenses, Caterpillar stated in an SEC filing they would earn $100M less in 2010, Verizon sent emails to employees informing them of their expected costs to increase in the short term, and AT&T filed with the SEC that they expect...

What If They Held a Hearing and Nobody Came? by John F. Di Leo Flush with the victory of passing their nationalization of the health insurance industry in March, the Democratic leadership in Washington was interrupted in the middle of their celebratory bacchanalia by some stuffy businessmen filing unpleasant forecast revisions with the SEC. Yup, without so much as a “By your leave,” well-known corporations started announcing their formal assessments of what Obamacare was going to cost their shareholders, their employees, and especially, their retirees. A hundred million dollars here, a half billion there… and the surprise of them all,...