Waxman awaits chairmanship

With the Democrats now in control of the House, Westside Congressman Henry Waxman will likely become chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. And as chairman, Waxman has made it clear that he would aggressively expand oversight of big business - especially drug companies, oil companies and engineering and construction firms doing work in Iraq. For business and industry, running the Government Reform Committee is an extremely powerful position because it means having the authority to issue subpoenas and call for hearings.

He’s already getting ready with something called the Clean Contracting Act. It’s legislation that would prohibit certain kinds of government contracts that are prone to waste and abuse. That includes so-called layer cake deals that have tiers of subcontractors who can inflate the cost of a contract. Since the Republicans won the House in 1994, Waxman has had very little power as a minority voice. But before ’94, when he headed the subcommittee on health and environment, Waxman tried to get tobacco regulated as an addictive drug. He's been credited with pushing to have smoking prohibited on airlines and putting nutritional labels on food packaging. Needless to say, many segments of the business community aren’t thrilled about him.