Washington – Rep. Diana DeGette snagged a powerful political position today when she was named vice-chair of one of the House’s most prestigious committees, a role that gives her the ability to help write legislation and set priorities.
DeGette, D-Denver, jumped over 11 people who have more seniority on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., currently the longest serving member of the House and the chair of the committee, pulled DeGette her up to the post. Dingell has mentored DeGette since she arrived in Congress and the two are considered political allies.
“Potentially it’s a very big deal,” said Norman Ornstein, political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington D.C. think tank. “It means she’s going to have some say over the agenda.”
It’s also a signal, Ornstein said, that Dingell trusts DeGette.
“For me it’s really a dream come true,” DeGette said.
DeGette will run the committee, one of the most prestigious in the House, in Dingell’s absence. The committee has extraordinary jurisdiction, handling everything from energy issues to medicine and public health, to telephone, Internet and television service, to investigations of corporate wrongdoing.
Dingell also asked DeGette to be his “right-hand person,” DeGette said, managing bills on the House floor when he is unable, and taking on special assignments.”
“Diana is an extremely intelligent member of the Committee, and she certainly has a bright future ahead of her in the Democratic party,” Dingell said. “Her leadership on stem cell research and other matters has won her the respect of colleagues on both sides of the aisle.”
Dingell made the move amid a power struggle with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who just created a new committee to deal with climate change. That would have been under Dingell’s jurisdiction, but observers say Pelosi believed Dingell, looking out for the interests of the auto industry in Michigan, would not have acted aggressively enough.
That has the potential to put DeGette in a tight spot. Pelosi is known to value loyalty. DeGette backed Pelosi’s rival, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-MD, when the two competed for Minority Leader in 2002. Pelosi won that contest. With Pelosi elevated to Speaker, Hoyer now is Majority Leader.
But DeGette said she has the ability to smooth over friction.
DeGette said Energy and Commerce will still write any legislation dealing with climate change, and that she will take a major role in that work. Additionally, she wants to tackle the reauthorization of a major children’s health care program.
DeGette also was asked by Pelosi to sit on the House Page Board, which oversees the program that allows high school students to work in Congress, learning about government. That board has new duties since the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned after revelations he sent inappropriate e-mail and text messages to pages.
