Free Republic

Backing Gas Ken Lay’s political niche began innocently enough with a unique, highly focused natural gas strategy, one that would culminate in Enron’s 1995 self-description as “the world’s first natural gas major.” In pursuit of that goal, Lay promoted gas-fired power generation relative to coal. He countered the coal lobby’s contention that the 1970s shortages were the inevitable result of a tiring North American gas resource base. “We had a surplus of regulation, not a shortage of gas,” Lay would say, and Enron backed up its claim by offering utilities long-term fixed-priced gas contracts. Enron also challenged the tendency of...

The push to provide newspapers a government bailout to save “independent” media got another boost from a rather likely source yesterday. As Danny Glover reports for Accuracy in Media, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) spoke at an FTC seminar on the crisis in media markets, at which other speakers insisted that government has routinely intervened in media, even newspapers, and that opposition to it somehow violates the American tradition. But first, Waxman said, newspapers had to ask Congress for a handout: Rep. Henry Waxman trekked from Capitol Hill to Federal Trade Commission headquarters today to deliver a message to journalists and...

A top Democratic lawmaker predicted on Wednesday that the government will be involved in shaping the future for struggling U.S. media organizations. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, saying quality journalism was essential to U.S. democracy, said eventually government would have to help resolve the problems caused by a failing business model. Waxman, other U.S. lawmakers and regulators are looking into various options to help a newspaper industry hurt by the shift in advertising revenues to online platforms. Tweaks to the tax code to allow newspapers to spread losses over a greater number of years, providing a nonprofit...

Some highlights, then a full embed - Macroeconomic impact: On the basis of those estimates and its own analysis, CBO concluded that H.R. 2454 would slightly reduce real GDP—by roughly 0.25 percent to 0.75 percent in 2020 and by between 1.0 percent and 3.5 percent in 2050 (see the right panel of Figure 1). By way of comparison, CBO projects that real GDP will be roughly two-and-a-half times as large in 2050 as it is today. Losses in consumption and overall well-being would probably be smaller than losses in GDP.

Having served in the Nixon administration at both the Department of Justice and the FBI, I know firsthand what can happen when government officials start using police powers to achieve political and policy objectives. It can lead to a dangerous abuse of power and establish ominous precedents that threaten the civil liberties of every American. Unfortunately, with House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman’s recent decision to subpoena 52 of the top insurance companies in the country — which demanded a sweeping array of documents and information (some of which are highly confidential and proprietary) — our government appears to be...

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a sham of a hearing today on the deleterious effects of the misguided Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). The hearing is a sham because Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat, has refused multiple requests for testimony from small-business owners, consumers or anybody other than government officials. Instead, the sole witness will be new Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Moore Tenenbaum, who started her job less than three months ago. When the legislation at issue is creating havoc among those being regulated, it's hardly constructive to hear only...

Do We Really Need A Green Job Czar? The Spanish government's renewable energy initiatives have destroyed 2.2 jobs for every new "green" job created, concludes a new study by economics professor Gabriel Calzada of King Juan Carlos University in Madrid. Calzada says American jobs will suffer the same fate if the United States similarly attempts to promote renewable energy at the expense of conventional energy sources.

Real goal was never to control the climate. It was always to control energy use, lives, jobs, economies, transportation and housing Of course, the real goal was never to control the climate. It was always to control energy use, lives, jobs, economies, transportation and housing – and usher in a new era of high tax global governance. The American people are increasingly saying they’re not ready to grant that power to Obama Gore & Company.

Junk Science: The EPA may be considering closing the watchdog office that exposed the flimsy evidence of man-caused warming. So much for the administration's promise to "restore science to its rightful place."Recently we commented on the plight of Dr. Allen Carlin, the EPA senior research analyst at the National Center for Environmental Economics who dared to say, in essence, that emperor Al Gore and his environmental sycophants at the Environmental Protection Agency wore no clothes. The EPA had been working on an "endangerment finding" that would say carbon dioxide, rather than being the basis for all life on earth, was...

Henry Waxman Zero Dollar is out. Gotta love this guy. He's screwing all of us because he's philosophically on board with the concept of the government healthcare plan. He winds up exempting Congress from having to be in the government plan. If it's so great why do that, Henry? Now he's screwing big pharma, who sold their collective souls to jump on the Obamacare bandwagon for certain promises by Obama, and Waxman ain't gonna honor them because he doesn't have to. It is priceless and ironic big pharma gets screwed by the very deal they thought would protect them. Also...

Energy Policy: A new study shows that Waxman-Markey will increase prices at the pump, deepen our dependence on foreign oil and shred our ability to turn crude into gasoline. Even fuel-efficient cars will still need fuel.Oil may bubble up out of the ground, but gasoline does not. It's made in those ugly little NIMBY places called refineries we are loath to build anymore because we're too busy trying to save the Earth rather than our economy and American jobs. When Hurricane Katrina shut down 20% of our refining capacity in a single day and raised gas prices in a single...

A small grassroots group of conservatives turned out Friday at UCLA to let Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Van Nuys, know that they oppose congressional plans for a global warming tax on businesses and to take over the nation's health care system, but Waxman wasn't listening. Holding a selectively advertised "town hall" meeting where all the seats were reserved and several participants later said they had to submit to a questionnaire intended to screen audience members, Waxman apparently didn't care to hear any opposing views on the "cap-and-trade" bill that would require businesses to pay a tax or buy "carbon credits" if...

Friday polls shows highest numbers ever opposing ObamaCare. Desperate Dems are resorting to bullying. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) sent letters to 50 health insurers, demanding to know how much they spend on salaries and junkets.....Democratic talking points now stress the need to bash insurance companies to save ObamaCare. Obama is trashing Republicans for not being "bipartisan" -- though his biggest problem is skeptical Democrats. Senate Dems are scheming to use parliamentary tricks to get it passed. Better they ditch desperate moves -- and try to figure out what the opposition is trying to tell them.

Republicans are making a "serious mistake" by thinking that stopping Democrats' healthcare reform will result in political victories in 2010, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) warned. "I think they make a serious mistake trying to make this a partisan fight," Waxman told U.S. News in an interview posted Friday. Waxman asserted that GOP-ers would be in error to look to the 1994 healthcare fight, in which they blocked President Bill Clinton's reform efforts, as a template for the 2009 fight. "They are looking at the playbook from 1993 and 1994 where the Republicans pulled someone like...

In the late 1970s, as the federal government arranged to bail out Chrysler, not-yet-famous economist Alan Greenspan warned the problem “was not that it would fail, but that it would succeed.” And it did, thus paving the way for more bailouts, including (again) Chrysler. But the first Chrysler bailout was just one company, one time. The rolling series of financial bailouts over the past year -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AIG and Citibank, General Motors and Chrysler, etc. -- have not yet succeeded or failed. But they’ve raised a new moral hazard. These days, having invested so much in...

One of the first news stories I saw yesterday morning was that in a Wednesday conference call with liberal religious leaders, Mr. Obama declared that health coverage for Americans is a "core ethical and moral obligation", and he asked these influentials to “spread the facts and speak the truth.” (That is, he asked religious leaders to help him ram through Congress – Americans’ disapproval of it be damned - his nationalized “health” “care” scheme.) Whether this claim of a moral imperative is true, it appears to be the Democrats’ new focus-group-tested approach to selling a government takeover of the management...

Two senior House Democrats are seeking a raft of financial figures from health-insurance companies, upping the ante as President Obama and his allies push to make the insurance industry's flaws a centerpiece of their campaign for health-care reform. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the panel's subcommittee on oversight and investigations, wrote letters Monday to more than 50 of the nation's largest insurers informing them that the committee "is examining executive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry." They requested detailed information on the compensation packages of the...

Did you ever have an encounter with a thief? If not, how many times have you read or heard about their sudden attacks in newspapers or TV and thought or gasped, “I hope that never happens to me”? Well, it is happening. As I write this, we have politicians all over the country stealing from us. Many of you are now more than aware of this new Cap and Trade bill brought to us by “our” representative in the 30th district of California, Mr. Henry Waxman. Well, you may also want to know that Mr. Waxman has been quite busy...

Two powerful House Democrats have sent a letter to insurance companies asking them to provide detailed information about their conferences and retreats, executive pay, and other business practices. The letter comes in the midst of a campaign by Democrats, as part of their push to build support for a health overhaul, to portray the insurance companies as the villains of the health-care system. Insurers say they are working with Congress on an overhaul and resent being cast as the bad guy. The letter is from Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.), who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee,...

House Democrats are probing the nation’s largest insurance companies for lavish spending, demanding reams of compensation data and schedules of retreats and conferences. Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents for an examination of ‘extensive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry.” The letters set a deadline of Sept. 14 for the documents. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, signed the three-page letter dated Monday. An industry source replied when asked for comment:...

Democrats on a House committee are seeking detailed financial records from dozens of large insurance companies, officials disclosed Tuesday, part of an investigation into ''executive compensation and other business practices'' in an industry opposed to President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul health care. The request included records relating to compensation of highly paid employees, documents relating to companies' premium income and claims payments, and information on expenses stemming from any event held outside company facilities in the past 2 1/2 years. The requests were made in letters signed by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who guided a portion of health care...

Waxman is the architect of the disasterous Cap and Tax Bill and also the socalled Health Bill that the Congressional Budget Office has said will drive the Federal Deficit to massive new heights. Yet while congresspeople around the country are holding Town Halls and hearing from their constituents this month, Henry Waxman hides. Where are you Henry? Dining with Pelosi Maybe? Or, are you pulling an Osama and hiding deep in a cave in the Santa Monica mountains? Come out come out where ever you are Henry! Step forward and let the sunshine of democracy shine on you.

Testimony beforeThe House and Senate Western CaucusJuly 30, 2009My name is Ben Lieberman. I am the Senior Policy Analyst for Energy and Environment in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation.I would like to thank the House and Senate Western Caucus for the privilege of participating in today's hearing. I'll be discussing the costs of the cap-and-trade approach to addressing global warming and The Heritage Foundation's economic analysis of...

Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) is about as able a legislator as exists in the current goat rodeo cum Democratic Congress, so if Waxman wrote a book explaining how Congress really works, it would be worth taking a look at. And so it is that Waxman has just released The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works, co-authored with The Atlantic’s Joshua Green. But the book has a serious truth-in-advertising problem: Explaining the behind-the-scenes machinations of Congress is far from the central purpose of the book. Indeed, Waxman is quite explicit about his true goal in writing it. “Sadly, the view...

Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the dark about the coming nutricide. Codex Alimentarius is scheduled for full global implementation on December 31, 2009, and not a word has been spoken in main stream media about this threat to humanity. Yet, according to the projections based on figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a minimum of 3 billion people will die from the Codex mandated vitamin and mineral guideline alone. Former Nazi is...

More evidence that liberals suffer from enlarged ego syndrome. So Democrats don’t like all those ads for prescription drugs on T.V. – the ones for high cholesterol, enlarged prostates, dry eyes and, yes, ED. On C-Span recently, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D., Calif., said “a lot of people start thinking they have medical problems because they’ve seen too many of these commercials. I don’t think that’s doing the public a lot of good. It’s certainly making the drug companies richer, but it’s not doing a lot of good for the public.” That statement tells us an...

Can someone post when these three have public appearances in California this month? I'd like to attend and let my voice be heard.

Those are the words of President Obama. Just how great is the health plan Congress is on? Why do they refuse to take part in their new plan for the country? There must be certain advantages that make it hard to give up. Well, let's take a look. Among the advantages: a choice between 10 health care plans that provide access to a national network of doctors, including numerous HMOs that serve each member's state. (In comparison, 85% of private companies offering health coverage to their employees only offer one type of plan, usually the least expensive, with an option...

Here they are, boys and girls. The four "moderate-conservative" House Dems on Henry Waxman's Energy and Commerce Committee who had their choker chains pulled by Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the lefty leadership in the lower chamber and ended up voting to approve a version of Obamacare that promises higher costs, lower quality and restricted access: Mike Ross (Arkansas), 4th District (202) 454-5262 Baron Hill (Indiana), 9th District (202) 285-0966 Zack Space (Ohio), 18th District (202) 347-3042 Bart Gordon (Tennessee), 6th District 1-800-444-BART I did some checking, and one of the reasons why a few of the above probably...

Despite some really eloquent speeches to the contrary, our “for sale” House of Representatives passed the Food Fascism Act….euphemistically called a food safety act, by a margin of about 140 over the naysayer’s. True to form, Rosa DeLauro spoke about things she knows nothing about and couldn’t care less; Rosa just loves her some Monsanto! And that exclusion for farms??? Gone! And that includes you organic idiots who thought you had kissed enough behinds to have your industry excluded. The newly revised bill that appeared overnight after the original was defeated 29th of July, now includes all those farms we...

Dems win approval of health bill in committee DAVID ESPO and ERICA WERNER WASHINGTON – In a triumph for President Barack Obama, Democrats narrowly pushed sweeping health care legislation through a key congressional committee Friday night and cleared the way for a September showdown in the House. The 31-28 vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along party lines, was weeks later than either the White House or Democratic leaders had hoped. As part of a last-minute series of changes, the committee agreed to cap increases in the cost of insurance sold under the bill, and also to give...

Curious locals flocked to the home of owner Feng Changlin after news of the piglet spread in Fengzhang village, Xiping township. “It’s hideous. No one will be willing to buy it, and it scares the family to even look at it!” Feng told Oriental Today.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated Friday that some of the most hard-fought provisions of the healthcare bill, including parts meant to appease conservative Democrats, could change by the time the final measure reaches the House floor. Pelosi's remarks came as the House Energy and Commerce Committee hammed out the final details of the bill, including a deal with Blue Dog Democrats and a tax to pay for the legislation. Three committees have worked intensively on the bill, and assuming passage by the Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, the three versions will have to be melded during the August break....

You’re better off reading the Standard’s rundown of what happened than listening to me blather about it, but here’s the nutshell version. Last night, led by pro-life Dem Bart Stupak, Waxman’s committee passed an amendment barring any mandate in ObamaCare for private insurers to pay for abortions. One curious hitch: Waxman voted for it. Why? Because, only if you vote yes do you get to ask for a “reconsideration” of the amendment later, which Waxman promptly did after he “convinced” (i.e. likely bought off) Blue Dog Bart Gordon to switch his vote. The result: A new “compromise” amendment introduced by...

Two interesting developments in the Waxman House Energy and Commerce Committee writeup of the Obamacare bill today. Two of the Republican amendments that were rejected by the Democrats showed the disdain the Dems have for us "common folk." The first, called the "put up or shut up amendment" required Congress and other Federal Employees to enroll in the public option health plan....NY Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner has been pushing Obamacare by saying that he wants the public to have the same chance at good health care as Congress does. this afternoon, Republicans on Waxman's committee offered took Weiner at his...

Liberals and a small core of conservative Democrats set aside long-standing ideological differences early Friday to cut a deal that should allow the House Energy and Commerce Committee to approve a sweeping health care bill, breaking a two-week deadlock that threatened President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority. Blue Dog Democrats on the committee, who are the linchpin in the House health care debate, agreed to allow their liberal colleagues to cut billions from existing government-funded health care programs in order to restore some $50 billion to $65 billion in subsidies set aside in the bill to help middle-income families purchase...

Henry Waxman was able to pull Blue Dogs and liberals together to cut a deal to secure passage of the health care bill out of his Energy Committee just a couple hours ago. Liberals and a small core of conservative Democrats set aside long-standing ideological differences early Friday to cut a deal that should allow the House Energy and Commerce Committee to approve a sweeping health care bill, breaking a two-week deadlock that threatened President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

If anyone might have the right to revel in a bit of health-care schadenfreude, it’s John Dingell. Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman ought to feel lucky he’s foregone the pleasure. The Michigan Democrat, at least until last year, presided over the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. As such, Mr. Dingell, the House’s longest-serving dealmaker, was positioned to be point man for President Barack Obama’s health-care and climate priorities

If anyone might have the right to revel in a bit of health-care schadenfreude, it’s John Dingell. Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman ought to feel lucky he’s foregone the pleasure. -- snip -- Mr. Waxman and Mrs. Pelosi head into recess with one comatose climate bill and one wounded health-care project. Now comes the long hot summer month where the nation gets to think about this some more. If the speaker wants to make use of her vacation, she could always get on the phone to Michigan. Mr. Dingell might have some advice.

Third Horseman Appears! Soylent Green Alert! byPaul L. Williams, Ph.D. thelastcrusade.org "We are a nation built on the strength of individual initiative. But there are certain things that we can't do on our own. There are certain things that only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat …are safe and don't cause us harm."President Barack Obama March 14, 2009 America enjoys the world’s safest, highest quality, most abundant, diverse and affordable food supply.This situation is about to change with the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749) which was scheduled for...

Liberal lawmakers who oppose a deal House leaders cut with centrist Blue Dog Democrats have gathered signatures from 57 lawmakers who say they won't vote for the plan. “This agreement will result in the public, both as insurance purchasers and taxpayers, paying ever higher rates to insurance companies,” the letter says. “We simply cannot vote for such a proposal.” If Republicans oppose the healthcare bill on the floor en masse, 57 Democrats voting “no” would defeat the bill. The agreement between four Blue Dogs and House leaders cut $100 billion off of the price tag of the bill. Under the...

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) postponed the health bill markup that he planned to hold Wednesday afternoon amid a backlash from liberals to the deal that he cut earlier with four conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Waxman told reporters that he intended to keep meeting with committee Democrats on Wednesday night, resume the markup Thursday and still finish the bill Friday. “[Energy and Commerce Democrats] have a lot of questions about the legislation, and I think it’s more important that we sit in the Democratic Caucus and let people ask questions, get answers, hear each other out,” Waxman...

Just as Henry Waxman seemed to appease the center with a deal with the Blue Dogs, that same deal has a potential of a "rebellion" from the left. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent half of Wednesday finalizing a deal with the Blue Dogs — and the other half quelling a brewing rebellion among progressives who think conservatives have hijacked health care reform. Liberals, Hispanics and African-American members — Pelosi’s most loyal base of support — are feeling betrayed after House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) reached an agreement with four of seven Blue Dogs on his committee...

Ok, I'm gonna be very politically cynical here. Clearly, we do not want anything remotely resembling ObamaCare passed into LAW, but what is better from a conservative activists' perspective? 1. The senate or house passes a version of ObamaCare (without it being signed into law). This means they are one step closer, but it also means that those reps and/or senators can held accountable for a specific vote on a specific issue. 2. Both the senate and the house are stymied until September. This means they look like they are in disarray (good for us), but it also means that...

During a crowded, hot meeting on Tuesday morning, the entire Blue Dog Coalition got a chance to review the conceptual healthcare compromise offered Monday night by Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), but the only agreement reached was to let the seven Blue Dogs on Waxman’s committee decide the proposal’s fate. “We’re not there yet,” Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), a Blue Dog co-chairman and member of the Energy and Commerce panel, said upon leaving the meeting. “We’ve had a good discussion with the Blue Dogs here this morning, and we’ll take it from there.” Hill then retreated to his...

Hours after calling their chairman a liar, Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stood by that chairman’s side and announced together that the once-collapsed healthcare negotiations are back on track. “The chairman and I would like to retract some of the things that we said earlier today,” Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), the chairman of the Blue Dog healthcare task force said while standing beside Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) after the two emerged from an emergency meeting of the Democrats on the committee. “Our group of seven has always believed that we want to be a constructive part of...

House healthcare negotiations dissolved in acrimony on Friday, with Blue Dog Democrats saying they were “lied” to by their Democratic leaders. The seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stormed out of a Friday meeting with their committee chairman, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), saying Waxman had been negotiating in bad faith over a number of provisions Blue Dogs demanded be changed in the stalled healthcare bill. “I’ve been lied to,” Blue Dog Coalition Co-Chairman Charlie Melancon (D-La.) said on Friday. “We have not had legitimate negotiations. “Mr. Waxman has decided to sever discussions with the Blue Dogs who are...

I think most of us expected for Republicans to battle it out ideological in the aftermath of their stunning defeat in 2008. I'd be hard pressed to imagine that anyone would have thought that there would be a political civil war not six months into the new administration. Though, to be fair, Dick Morris predicted just such a problem when he analyzed the make up of the Democratic party.

House healthcare negotiations dissolved in acrimony on Friday, with Blue Dog Democrats saying they were “lied” to by their Democratic leaders. The seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee stormed out of a Friday meeting with their committee chairman, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), saying Waxman had been negotiating in bad faith over a number of provisions Blue Dogs demanded be changed in the stalled healthcare bill. “I’ve been lied to,” Blue Dog Coalition Co-Chairman Charlie Melancon (D-La.) said on Friday. “We have not had legitimate negotiations. “Mr. Waxman has decided to sever discussions with the Blue Dogs who are...

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says there is "no alternative" to having healthcare legislation bypass his committee if Blue Dog Democrats don't agree to legislation. Waxman said if the seven Blue Dogs on his panel do not relent, they could join with the committee's Republicans to "eviscerate" healthcare reform. "I won't allow them to hand over control of our committee to Republicans," Waxman told reporters. "I dont see what other alternative we have, because we're not going to let them empower Republicans on the committee."