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The campaigns have ended. Election night has come and gone. The votes have been counted and a winner announced. Still, there is a race on in Washington and it's between rivals with a much longer history than Barack Obama and John McCain. It is a competition for the position of Energy and Commerce Chairman, a role that will be central to Barack Obama's administration.
The position has been held by 82-year-old John Dingell who, with 52 years in office, is the longest serving House member. Dingell is a long-time supporter of American auto manufacturers and it's thought that their request for a financial bailout has weakened his position on the committee. Dingell is also a strong supporter of universal health care and, in this way, would be a strong voice of support for Barack Obama's initiatives in this area.
Henry Waxman, who has been in Congress for 34 years but has received recent notoriety as the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is challenging Dingell's position. His record indicates that, as Energy and Commerce Chairman, he would be hard on the energy industry, drugs, and auto makers.
Though we may not have thought about the Energy and Commerce Chairman in the past, it promises to be one of the most important positions in the coming years. The reason for this is that the committee has jurisdiction over issues of energy, health care, and telecommunications regulation. Certainly, energy and health care will be among the most important issues of the early part of Barack Obama's presidency.
The competition has proven to be divisive for the Democratic Party, possibly more so than the long presidential primary was. With authority over so many important issues at stake, divided debate is welcome. Hopefully, it will help ignite more widespread discourse over issues of energy and the environment.
For more information on the race for Energy and Commerce Chairman, check out Focus Earth: November 15, 2008: Navy Wins, Whales Lose? & Race for Energy and Commerce Chairman.
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