Representatives Buoyant at Having an Ally in White House : Politics: Westside Democrats see Clinton’s election as an opportunity to end legislative gridlock and further their long-held goals.

Buoyed by the prospect of having an ally in the White House, the four Democrats who compose the Westside’s congressional delegation say they hope many of their long-stymied legislative goals will be realized in the 103rd Congress.

“It’s a great sense of relief for many of us to look forward to coming back to Washington and being part of a government that, on the whole, we believe will at least try to do the necessary and right things,” said Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), who won a 10th term last month after a tough reelection fight.

“The country is in some trouble and we need to pull ourselves out of it,” he said.

And change will by no means be limited to the White House. The House of Representatives will have its largest freshman class since 1948--110 new members, many of whom ran on platforms of reforming Congress and breaking governmental gridlock.

California’s 52 House members, including 17 newcomers, make up the largest state delegation in U.S. history.

Other Westside Democrats returning to Congress with Beilenson are Los Angeles Democrats Julian C. Dixon and Henry A. Waxman. Joining them will be newcomer Jane Harman of Marina del Rey.

Committee assignments by the Policy and Steering Committee are expected to be completed this week. But regardless of the final assignments, the three Westside veterans (Waxman, Beilenson and Dixon will be starting their 10th, ninth and eighth terms, respectively) are likely to be in positions of considerable clout.

Beilenson expects to move up to the third-ranking spot on the Budget Committee where, he said, he plans to pursue cutting the federal budget deficit. It will probably help that Budget Chairman Leon E. Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) is an ally.

Dixon, who has served on the Appropriations Committee since being elected to the House in 1978, expects to be named to the Policy and Steering Committee, where he would join fellow California Democrats Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento) and Panetta. The policy committee has the vital role of determining the timing and agenda of legislation.

Waxman is expected to be a key figure in President-elect Bill Clinton’s effort to reform health care to provide universal coverage and control skyrocketing costs. The Los Angeles liberal wields great influence as chairman of the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health and environment.

Harman, who served as deputy secretary to the Cabinet under President Jimmy Carter, has requested assignments on the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. The two panels are expected to focus extensively on developing job conversion programs for the aerospace and defense industries, an important concern in Harman’s coastal district, which has been hit hard by defense-related layoffs.

There will be some other significant changes in Congress when it reconvenes. All California representatives will have the clock ticking on them now that voters have imposed six-year term limits. Each of the lawmakers also will represent new districts as a result of reapportionment.

After three decades of representing the Beverly Hills-Westwood area in the Legislature and Congress, Beilenson now has a district that barely touches the Westside. His 24th District includes Malibu, but is mostly in the San Fernando Valley.

Waxman’s 29th District extends from Santa Monica to Hollywood, and includes the Santa Monica Mountains and the southern edge of the Valley.

Harman’s 36th District includes Venice, Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey and Westchester and extends down the coast to San Pedro.

Dixon’s 32nd District is much like the one he represented in the 1980s. It includes the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw area, Culver City, portions of West Los Angeles and part of South-Central Los Angeles.

In recent interviews with The Times, the lawmakers discussed their goals when Congress convenes next month.

Anthony C. Beilenson

Beilenson has long been outspoken about the dangers of mountains of red ink. But he said the hardship of the recession has made him believe that “some increase in government through temporary targeted tax cuts and investment in infrastructure are necessary even if it balloons the deficit for a year or two.”

At the same time, he said, he would like to see Clinton and Congress “put in place a long-term deficit reduction plan” in 1993 that will provide assurance “that we have done something real about bringing the deficit under control.”

Beilenson said he’s also optimistic that the new President and a reform-minded Congress will overhaul campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of special-interest money and decrease campaign spending overall. Clinton has said this will be one of his priorities.

At the district level, Beilenson said the change in administrations is unlikely to affect the amount of money for land acquisition in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The area received $13.2 million in the current fiscal year.

Beilenson said he intends to play a more active role in stemming illegal immigration by seeking adoption of a forgery-proof identification card for legal immigrants and by beefing up the Border Patrol. He said he will also back a constitutional amendment to deny citizenship to the offspring of illegal immigrants born in the United States.

Julian C. Dixon

“Everything is open for a new agenda,” Dixon said, adding that he looks forward to the prospect of having “a House and Senate controlled by Democrats to work effectively with a President inspired on the issues.”

“I think Clinton has inherited no place to go but up,” he said.

Dixon noted that when he was sworn for his first term in January, 1979, he was number 415 in seniority. When Congress convenes, he will be number 90, and his seniority will earn him a third subcommittee assignment--on appropriations--in addition to Defense and the District of Columbia.

Dixon said he expects to concentrate on economic development, with an emphasis on creating jobs and “redirecting talent to peacetime endeavors.”

A Democrat in the White House helps in two ways, Dixon said. First, members of the majority party will be more inclined to support what Clinton brings forth, and should thus be more unified than they have been for the past 12 years. Second, he said, members will have “input into the legislative agenda before it is set out.”

Clinton has “demonstrated a willingness to sit down and negotiate with Congress,” Dixon said.

Dixon said he expects to reintroduce a bill for development of rapid transit equipment in Southern California and is working with Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) on the electric car, to “capture it as an industry in California, first with research and development, then with manufacturing.”

Continuing cuts in defense spending, Dixon said, are a sign that proper national priorities are being established, but he said ways must be sought to address the resulting loss of jobs locally.

“Conversion may be two, three, five years off,” he said. “Defense is very important to Southern California.”

Jane Harman

Fully agreeing with Dixon on the importance of the defense industry, newcomer Harman hopes to seize on it in her committee assignments. She is seeking seats on the Armed Services Committee and Science, Space and Technology Committee because she represents “an area that is the center of California aerospace.”

Creating jobs, she said, calls for diversity in “high-tech alternative needs,” such as medical research and environmental technology.

She also supports investment in retraining of workers who can no longer find a use for their skills in the contracting defense industry.

Though she is hopeful about streamlining government and preventing gridlock under Clinton, she said simply having a Democrat as President may not be enough.

“I lived through the last Democratic presidency,” she said, “and the congressional relationship is not automatic. Being of the same party doesn’t automatically mean better results.”

Working in the lawmakers’ favor, however, is that they have begun work earlier than in previous years and there is a spirit of cooperation.

“Congress is in a process of renewal,” Harman said, “and bipartisan collaboration is a big piece of the renewal.”

“The complexion of Congress has changed. In a group photo (of new House members) there were so many women and people of color,” she said. “Congress is looking much like the country.”

She outlined her goals in three areas: legislative, focusing on the economy, jobs and family; reform, doing her “maximum to unify the California delegation”; and personal, “handling the responsibilities of a caring parent and an active congressperson.”

She said her two children, 8 and 10 years old, attend public school in Los Angeles and that she plans to “live in Los Angeles and commute.”

Family concerns, she said, are not just a woman’s issue, but must be part of mainstream thinking.

“I’m not unique in thinking about this,” she said. “I’d like to see how I can help make this (Congress) a more family-focused institution.”

Henry A. Waxman

“Many of the fights that I’ve led during the past couple of years will be resolved in our favor,” an upbeat Waxman predicted.

“We couldn’t get a two-thirds vote to overturn Bush’s anti-abortion positions. Now, we’ll have a President who will either sign our bills or, by executive order, overturn such barriers as the ban on fetal tissue research at the National Institutes of Health or the gag rule at family planning clinics” restricting abortion counseling.

Waxman said Clinton’s support for a health care program that puts the onus on employers is “an acceptable way to accomplish the result” of universal care and cost controls. He added, “I’ve been waiting a long time to work on this issue with a President who wanted to get on with the job” and said there is an opportunity to pass the program in 1993.

But, Waxman warned, “if we don’t have strong leadership from the President and his team, the various interest groups will chew this issue up and either keep major reform from passing or scuttle anything major and leave only some tinkering.”

In addition, Waxman said he will again attempt to tighten pesticide laws to reduce the risk that such chemicals, which can cause cancer or birth defects, contaminate food. He said he will push for renewal of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Superfund law for cleaning up toxic dumps. He also plans to work for reauthorization of funds for the National Institutes of Health, with increased funding for diseases that particularly afflict women.

Alan Miller reported from Washington; Manley Witten reported from Los Angeles.