A power struggle in the House

Dingell, who in the Democratic primaries endorsed the presidential candidacy of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, represents a district near Detroit, and the loss of his position would be seen as a blow to the auto industry at a particularly trying time. Detroit is being battered by declining car sales, high gas prices and an economy in turmoil. In a sign of the political sensitivity of the fight, several auto industry spokesmen declined to comment on the choice between Dingell and Waxman.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is officially neutral in the dispute, but she is known to be sympathetic to Waxman's positions on the environment and has repeatedly crossed swords with Dingell over the years:

In 2002, Pelosi endorsed an unsuccessful primary challenger to Dingell.

In 2007, she set up a special panel to address global warming, a move that was seen as a way to circumvent Dingell.

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

Dingell supported that provision because, he said, it was easier for auto companies to comply with a uniform national standard than a patchwork of state laws, and Waxman and Pelosi saw it as a direct shot at California's landmark law to cut tailpipe emissions. The provision was dropped from a global warming draft bill Dingell circulated this fall.

Waxman's feud with Dingell is even longer-running. Throughout the 1980s, as they rose in seniority on the energy and commerce committee, the two battled over clean-air laws, toxic waste regulation and other environmental issues.

As chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Waxman has been a thorn in the Bush administration's side with frequent hearings and reports critical of its performance. But now that a Democrat will be in the White House, that oversight role may not be as appealing to Waxman as the chairman of the energy and commerce committee, which has jurisdiction over many issues important to the new administration.

"In large measure, our success as a Democratic caucus will depend on how the commerce committee performs," Waxman said in a letter to Democrats announcing his plans.

Environmentalists are delighted at the prospect of a Waxman chairmanship.

"It is much more likely we will advance a progressive, forward-looking agenda with a progressive, forward-thinking leader like Waxman than with an old bull who defends Detroit like Dingell," said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, an environmental advocacy group.

Committee chairs are approved before the new Congress convenes in January by a vote of the Democratic caucus after recommendations are made by a leadership panel.

If it were an ideological vote, Waxman would probably win. But seniority is a powerful enough force in the House that committee chairs are rarely deposed, and lawmakers do not tend to cast their votes on ideological grounds.

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janet.hook@latimes.com