Henry Waxman news stories on Newser

Chu: Solyndra Wasn't About Politics

Kevin Spak — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:54:28 CST

Energy Secretary Steven Chu offered a spirited defense of his department’s loan guarantees to Solyndra today, telling Congress that the loan program is necessary to keep US alternative energy companies competitive, and insisting that he didn’t know Solyndra was connected to a major Obama fundraiser, the Washington Post reports. “Countries...

House Report: Fracking Uses 29 Carcinogens

Mark Russell — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 09:13:48 CDT

Hydraulic fracturing blasts at least 29 carcinogens and other hazardous chemicals deep into the earth to break up shale formations and get at oil and natural gas, says a new report released yesterday by House Democrats. Known as fracking, the industry used 780 million gallons of drilling fluids between 2005...

Hayward Faces Down Lawmakers, Protesters

Kevin Spak — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:46:26 CDT

Tony Hayward went to Capitol Hill to take his lumps today, and Democrats, at least, delivered them. Henry Waxman praised the BP boss for setting up a $20 billion clean-up fund, but then slammed him for his safety record. When Hayward took his job he said he’d focus “like a...

Oil Giants All Have Same Lame Spill Plan: Dems

Kevin Spak — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:20:39 CDT

Lord help us if there’s another deepwater spill, because the big oil companies all have a pretty much identical response plan to BP, congressional Democrats complained today, grilling executives from Chevron, Exxon, Shell, BP, and Conoco Phillips. All the companies hired the same third party to draft their plans, the...

Big Oil to House: It Won't Happen to Us

Kevin Spak — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:20:56 CDT

The biggest cheeses from the world’s biggest oil companies are on Capitol Hill today to try to convince Congress that the Deepwater Horizon spill was a freak occurrence, and that they can surely be trusted to drill safely. According to prepared testimony, Exxon Mobil’s chairman will also issue a subtle...

Health Bill Compromise Kicks Off 5-Week Battle

Neal Colgrass — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:50:00 CDT

A key House committee approved a health care package tonight, kicking off a 5-week public battle on the issue and sending lawmakers home for August recess, the Washington Post reports. The 31-to-28 vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, fueled by a liberal–Blue Dog deal this morning, could give...

Blue Dog Deal Means No Vote on Health Before Recess

Nick McMaster — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:59:28 CDT

The House will not vote on a health care bill before the August recess, the Hill reports. Rep. Henry Waxman agreed to the delay as part of a deal with “Blue Dog” Democrats on his Energy and Commerce Committee, who had been threatening to block the bill. Waxman now expects...

Blue Dogs Stand Firm as Dems Get Panicky

Jason Farago — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:28:45 CDT

The Democratic leadership is scrambling to make progress on health care reform before Congress breaks for its August recess, but last night's marathon negotiations failed to break the stalemate—and may even have increased the number of issues up for debate. "We're making progress," Nancy Pelosi said as she left...

Waxman Offers Secret Health Deal to Blue Dogs

Kevin Spak — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:19:02 CDT

Rep. Henry Waxman is optimistic he can get a health care bill out of his committee after pitching Blue Dog Democrats a compromise late last night, the Hill reports. After three hours of negotiations, the Dogs asked Waxman to get a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office before they...