Fight for key House panel could be settled today

The leadership of an important House committee comes up for a vote today in a political battle that pits two powerful congressional Democrats against each other and that could affect President-elect Barack Obama’s efforts to curb global warming and other initiatives.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Beverly Hills is seeking to wrest the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee from Rep. John D. Dingell of Michigan, the auto industry’s strongest ally in fighting stricter standards on pollution.

Waxman, a strong supporter of environmental causes, won the support Wednesday of a House Democratic leadership panel, but it was unclear whether the Democratic rank and file, which votes today, will follow the lead of the Democratic steering and policy panel, which voted 25 to 22 for Waxman.

The panel is made up of many allies of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), a Dingell rival. It also is dominated by members whose liberal views are more in line with those of Waxman than of Dingell, the 82-year-old dean of the House.

In challenging Dingell for one of Congress’ most powerful jobs, Waxman hopes to take advantage of the desire for political change that helped Obama win the presidency.

“I am running for the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee because we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance healthcare, achieve energy independence and tackle climate change,” Waxman said in a statement.

Jodi Seth, a Dingell spokeswoman, said the congressman’s appeal had “always been caucus-wide, and when this vote is put to the full and diverse caucus, we have no doubt Mr. Dingell will continue his chairmanship.”

The committee will be a major battleground in the next Congress for a number of Obama priorities, such as combating global warming, reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil and stopping the volatility in energy prices. It also will be writing healthcare legislation.

Billions of dollars ride on the decisions of the committee, which has been involved in recent years on issues including broadcast decency and toy safety.

One of the committee rooms features a large photo of Earth. “Dingell likes to point to that and say, ‘That’s the jurisdiction of the Energy and Commerce Committee,’ ” said Dan Becker, an environmentalist.

A Waxman victory would increase California’s clout in Congress. Pelosi has not publicly taken a position on the race but has battled with Dingell in the past.

California Reps. Howard L. Berman, George Miller and Bob Filner serve as chairmen of the foreign affairs, education and labor, and veterans affairs committees, respectively, and Xavier Becerra is the newly elected vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

Environmentalists are worried that Dingell, a longtime champion of his state’s auto industry, won’t be as aggressive as Waxman in writing global warming legislation, citing his efforts to substitute federal regulation for California’s tough vehicle emissions law.

Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch said, “We believe Waxman is more in sync with the Obama ‘change’ approach, and more likely to help him succeed.”

Dingell’s backers have appealed to veteran House members for support by arguing that his ouster would be an attack on the seniority system and threaten their hopes of rising to top committee spots after years of service.

They also have suggested that Waxman may be too liberal to succeed in the job.

“Environmental protection laws are complex pieces of legislation that require melding many competing governmental and private interests,” Dingell supporters said in a letter to Democratic colleagues.

They said Dingell’s record “demonstrates that he excels at fashioning such legislation that attracts large bipartisan majorities, and that is ultimately what leads to the protection of our environment.”

They also disputed that Dingell had not been aggressive in seeking to combat climate change, noting that he had produced a 461-page draft proposal.

Waxman, 69, is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where he has built a reputation as an investigatory pit bull. He has been a fixture in Los Angeles-area Democratic politics for decades and has been a vocal, frequent critic of Bush administration policies and practices.

He and Dingell have tangled since the 1980s over clean air laws, toxic waste regulation and other environmental issues.

Last year, Waxman and Pelosi fought Dingell over his global warming bill that would have prohibited California and other states from taking tougher action than the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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richard.simon@latimes.com

jean.merl@latimes.com