(Crossposted at The Motley Moose)

In a 137-122 secret vote, the Democratic Caucus followedtherecommendation of their steering committee to replace John Dingell with Henry Waxman as chairman of the influential House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Dingell, who represents Michigan's 15th district and is a staunch ally of Detroit's automobile manufacturers as well as sportsmen's groups and pro-gun organizations, held the endorsement of many Blue Dog Democrats to keep the chair.  Waxman, as part of a more progressive wing of the Democratic party long frustrated by environmental obstructionism in both parties, is expected to use the broad jurisdiction of the committee to pursue more aggressive oversight and reform in a variety of areas in a manner more in line with the agenda of President-elect Barack Obama.

Dingell has been either Chairman or Ranking Member of the committee since 1981.  As chairmanships are usually determined by seniority, Waxman's coup over a man who will become the longest serving Representative in the history of the House this February is quite uncommon.

Senior Democrats were stunned by the Waxman victory, which seemingly dealt a blow to the party's long-held principle of seniority. "It's just been buried," Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said of seniority.

Dingell has in the past consistently opposed efforts to tighten environmental controls affecting Detroit, especially fuel economy and emissions standards.  This attitude has earned him the ire of more liberal Democrats including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who, although remaining officially neutral during Waxman's campaign to win the chair, clearly favored her fellow Californian for the post.

He has often clashed publicly with Pelosi, who made an end-run around Dingell last year by creating a temporary committee chaired by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), a close Pelosi ally, to oversee global warming issues.

Despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's public neutrality in the race, Rangel accused her of tacitly supporting Waxman because her closest allies in the House ran his campaign and she did not intervene to stop Waxman, a home-state colleague, from running a campaign that exposed ideological fissures among Democrats.

"I assume that not playing a role is playing a role," Rangel said.

The committee is likely to play a role immediately, helping to negotiate the terms and concessions of the big 3 bailout.  Dingell is married to the executive director for public affairs at General Motors and would have very probably called for a no-strings-attached package, while Waxman is likely to negotiate far tougher terms and hold management accountable for their failures.

Energy and Commerce is extremely influential on matters that affect the US economy, and so will play a more even important role than usual in the 111th Congress.  It's encouraging for it to have a progressive leader who will fully support Obama's legislative goals to enact real change for our country.

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Per the Associated Press:

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 too slow to address environmental issues like global warming.

As I said yesterday, I really did not know how this vote was going to go down today, and was at least somewhat skeptical Henry Waxman was going to be able to pull this one off. Yet despite all of the talk of the House Democratic caucus being conservative (remember all of the discussion about the Heath Shulers of the caucus in the aftermath of the 2006 midterms making it seem like the party as a whole was right of center), House Democrats remain quite progressive and could serve as the most progressive voice in negotiations with the Senate and the White House over legislation in the coming Congress.

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From Congress Daily (subscription required):

By a three-vote margin, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee today recommended that Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman be given the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee, but a final decision will most likely be made by the full Democratic Caucus Thursday. The Steering Committee voted 25-22 in favor of Waxman to replace Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, according to lawmakers leaving the meeting.

This isn't over, as the entire House Democratic caucus will have the opportunity to have their say on the epic battle between the relative newcomer Henry Waxman, with just 34 years of service in the House, and John Dingell, with 53 years of service (following another 22 years of service by his eponymous father). And, at least from this vantage, it's not clear which of the two will have the edge in the full caucus, with Blue Dogs and those strongly supporting the seniority system (notably the Congressional Black Caucus) backing Dingell and more progressive forces backing Waxman. CQ Politics does note that the last time the steering panel upended a chairman or ranking member, the full caucus subsequently overturned the decision, but this one appears to be still up in the air.

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Behold the swirling mass of intrigue, molded by deep-seated loyalties and driven by complex motivations. Of course, I'm talking 'bout the U.S. House of Reps. Pelosi's push this week to create a new Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming was a fascinating peek into the inner-workings of the House and the relationships between the Speaker, Democratic leadership, and the rest of her caucus. Yep, the new panel lacks legislative jurisdiction, but is a platform for raising the profile of climate change. As to be expected, John Dingell -- chairman of the committee that loses ground in this new move and the representative from suburban Detroit -- found this whole reorganization business just simply unnecessary. For the record, though, he objects to the plan on the grounds that it undermines the idea that committees are supposed to serve as long-standing repositories of congressional expertise. Motivating Pelosi? The knowledge that Dingell isn't too keen on the idea that there is a scientific consensus on global warming; the Speaker seems to really want movement on climate change this Congress, and this move puts pressure all around to squeeze something out of the House in the near future.

But oh, there's so much more in this mix! For example: Dingell's chief of staff was a lobbyist and strategist at DaimlerChrysler as late as November. Dingell's wife is the executive director of government relations at GM. Dingell favored Hoyer over Pelosi in the Whip's race in 2001. Pelosi backed Dingell's primary challenger Lynne Rivers in 2002. One House chairman, Henry Waxman is of the opinion that "existing committees can deal effectively with global warming," but worth keeping in mind is that Waxman is next in line for the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee should the 81 year-old Dingell ever vacate the House.

Just in terms of structure, it's hard not to see this as an end run by Pelosi around the House's committee system and its chairmen. There just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of precedent for what she's done. (Of course, one might argue that there's not a whole lot of precedent for global warming.) The last "non-permanent select committee" was created by Republican leadership to blunt criticism after Hurricane Katrina. The one before that, Homeland Security, was created in the wake of September 11 and soon evolved into full standing committee. This new panel isn't as obviously event-driven and isn't yet designated permanent. Is the idea for it to be short-lived and for climate change and energy independence to revert back to Energy and Commerce when, say, Waxman pries the gavel out of Dingell's hands?

All in all, fascinating to watch Pelosi put her mark on the institution. She certainly doesn't seem to be afraid to shake things up, and we'll see what the caucus' tolerance is for being shaken.

Don't know if it was because of my op-ed, but the Rules package passed by the House continues the term limits on Committee Chairmen - meaning "unfrozen cavemen" like Dingell can serve for only a maximum of six years. Of course, having people like Dingell in office in the first place may imperil the Democrats' ability to stay in power for six years by turning off environmentalists and progressives, but Pelosi and the Democrats deserve major praise for this pro-democracy move. Hopefully next the Dems will introduce real elections for committee chairmen.

From today's Congress Daily:

In other House-related action, new rules for the 110th Congress will continue term limits on committee chairmen as imposed by Republicans when they gained control of the House in 1995. Newly minted Democratic chairmen will be required to give up those gavels after three consecutive terms. A spokesman for Rules Chairwoman Slaughter told the Associated Press today that term limits were not a point of contention when Democrats were deciding what parts of procedural and parliamentary rules should be carried over from the Republican era.

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