House Leadership Changes May Be Ahead

Congress returns for a session of organizational and other work starting next Monday (November 17) that is not expected to address federal employment related issues but that will begin to sort out who will run the committees that deal with those issues in the next Congress. In the House, Oversight and Government Reform chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is interested in taking over the Energy and Commerce Committee, although to do so he would have to unseat the powerful Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. If Waxman succeeds, Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., would be next in line on the government reform committee. The ranking Republican and former chairman, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., did not seek re-election, and fellow moderate Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., was defeated, leaving Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., next in line.