Waxman set to probe areas of Bush gov't

[ProSense]

Waxman set to probe areas of Bush gov't

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 10, 7:59 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - The Democratic congressman who will investigate the Bush administration's running of the government says there are so many areas of possible wrongdoing, his biggest problem will be deciding which ones to pursue.

There's the response to Hurricane Katrina, government contracting in Iraq and on homeland security, decision-making at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, and allegations of corporate profiteering, Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., told the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

"I'm going to have an interesting time because the Government Reform Committee has jurisdiction over everything," Waxman said Friday, three days after his party's capture of Congress put him in line to chair the panel. "The most difficult thing will be to pick and choose."

Waxman, who's in his 16th term representing West Los Angeles, had plenty of experience leading congressional investigations before the Democrats lost control of the House to Republicans in 1994.

That was the year when, as chairman of an Energy and Commerce subcommittee, he presided over dramatic hearings he convened where the heads of leading tobacco companies testified that they didn't believe nicotine was addictive.

Snip...

Not so, Waxman said.

"A lot of people have said to me, `Are you going to now go out and issue a lot of subpoenas and go on a wild payback time?' Well, payback is unworthy," he said. "Doing oversight doesn't mean issuing subpoenas. It means trying to get information."

Subpoenas would be used only as a last result, Waxman said, taking a jab at a previous committee chairman, GOP Rep. Dan Burton (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana, who led the committee during part of the Clinton administration.

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[texpatriot2004]

1. K&R nt

[bling bling]

2. Can't think of anybody better suited for the job.

He's been probing the Bush Government all along. Too bad his probes got little if any coverage by the media.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Waxman and I'm grateful he's there keeping his eye on and exposing the corruption in our government just as he's been doing the whole time.