Waxman Wins House Commerce Chair, Bringing Strong Tech Focus to Committee

Waxman has been a strong, vocal defender of performance rights, winning him recording industry praise and annoying broadcasters. Waxman’s support of net neutrality policies likely worries telecom providers, but none would go on the record with statements other than praise for the new chairman.

“Waxman will likely be pivotal in helping President-Elect Obama pursue a network neutrality policy,” said Cord Blomquist with the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He has supported net neutrality, but Waxman also “believes there should be more competition in the ISP market. The latter is a much better policy to pursue than the former,” Blomquist said. “Waxman has been a long time champion of the technology sector,” the Business Software Alliance said.

During a long House career Waxman has championed RIAA causes and other content industry issues. For example, in March 1987, Waxman introduced a bill to require embedding of “copycode” chips in digital audio tape recorders to thwart the making of high-quality copies from CDs. The CE industry strenuously objected, and Waxman’s bill died in the full Commerce Committee. RIAA didn’t respond right away for comment on Waxman’s chairmanship. CEA sidestepped comment on Waxman’s pro-RIAA record, but hailed Waxman’s ascension in a statement attributed to Michael Petricone, senior vice president of government affairs.

In September, Waxman introduced a bill (HR-7000) to require telecom carriers receiving universal service support for rural services to provide roaming services to any carrier upon request. Roaming services would have to be offered anywhere and on “just and reasonable terms,” the bill said. Carriers not wanting to allow roaming could ask the FCC for permission to opt out of USF support, the bill said.

Waxman’s election “is a helpful development for the smaller wireless and wireline carriers who go to battle in Washington with the incumbents on a variety of policy issues,” said Stanford analyst Paul Gallant. “A Waxman victory may have a bigger impact on energy and climate change issues than anything else, since those issues will be taken up by the committee next year,” said Medley Advisors analyst Jessica Zufolo. “Until the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issues a decision on the FCC’s network management order against Comcast, we do not expect any activity on network neutrality to emerge in congress unless another complaint arises against an incumbent broadband provider,” she said. “Wireless roaming and USF reform are also areas where Waxman has shown keen interest.”

Waxman portrayed his victory as a win for those favoring change. “Seniority is important, but it should not be a grant of property rights to be chairman three decades or more,” he told reporters after the caucus vote. “It was a contentious race, and a close one as well,” said Waxman, adding that his ascension doesn’t “diminish” Dingell’s contributions. “The argument I made is that we need a change,” Waxman said. “My suggestion was that I would be a better chairman.”

Dingell and his supporters seemed shaken by the vote, and he left the Cannon Caucus Room by a side entrance, making no press statement. “Well, this was clearly a change year,” he said in a press statement pledging support for a smooth transition.

Waxman’s priority is to build a team, and he plans to announce subcommittee posts in January, he said. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., now chairman of the Telecom Subcommittee, took no position in the chairmanship race. “I have worked for my entire career with John Dingell and Henry Waxman … I look forward to working with Chairman Waxman to tackle the many issues facing the Energy and Commerce Committee and the country in the next year,” he said.

Dingell is a “problem-solving centrist,” said Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who backed Dingell in the race. Subcommittee chairmanships will be decided in the committee caucus, and Dingell could chair a subcommittee, Boucher told us. Boucher, also a Judiciary Committee member, hailed Chairman John Conyers of Michigan for reorganizing that body, moving intellectual property issues to the full committee and shifting antitrust to the subcommittee level where it best can be hashed out.

Dingell’s Michigan colleagues on both sides of the aisle rallied around him Thursday. The vote may have turned in part on energy policy, but Waxman’s victory doesn’t mean Congress has the upper hand, said Democratic Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan, among the first members to talk with reporters after the vote: “I think probably what would have emerged either under Dingell or Waxman would have been quite similar, because the White House is going to play a major role in setting the energy policy of this country.” Michigan Republican Fred Upton, former Telecom Subcommittee chairman, considers Dingell a “hero” who will continue to be an important part of coming legislative issues, he said.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said Thursday he would like to keep his chairmanship of the Oversight Subcommittee, expected soon to announce results of an investigation into FCC processes. Stupak backed Dingell in the chairmanship race. “I am eager to continue in my role,” Stupak said in a statement.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who kept silent during the chairmanship race, congratulated Dingell for his service to the Congress in a statement after the vote. “I look forward to working closely with John and drawing on his great experience,” Pelosi said. Dingell will be “chairman emeritus.”