Henry Waxman Threatens To Forego His Committee

When you can't get what you want, ignore everyone else:

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has threatened to bypass his own committee and move a sweeping health care bill to the House floor if conservative Democrats in the Blue Dog Coalition don't agree to back the package.

Waxman had agreed to include language in the bill that would grant an outside commission authority to recommend cuts to government-funded health care programs. According to Ross, he had also agreed to include Senate language that would let doctors and other health care providers negotiate rates with the government-sponsored public health care plans.

But in the Friday session, Waxman told the group that he was taking both concessions off the table, Ross said afterward.

Even Democrat leadership, such as Whip Jim Clyburn and DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen are uncomfortable with this blatently unfair move. But this is the hard-nosed (no pun intended) old-liner Waxman we're talking about, so we'll see.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25380.html#ixzz0MCkZMMPI