The congressman who paved the way for the IRA

Aug 17, 2022 View in browser   By Robin Bravender VERBATIM Former Rep. Henry Waxman, who nearly got climate legislation through Congress in 2009, is happy to be working on the sidelines. | Win McNamee/Getty Images. When former Rep. Henry Waxman's massive climate bill passed the U.S. House in 2009, the hours were long, partisan tensions were high, and the effort ultimately collapsed in the Senate. More than a decade later, Waxman was happy to watch from the sidelines as Democrats cobbled together enough votes for the massive climate change and clean energy bill that was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Tuesday. The California Democrat retired from Congress in 2015. Waxman, the former chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Oversight and Government Reform Committee, spoke about the climate bill negotiations, the midterm elections and why he doesn't miss Capitol Hill. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What are you working on these days? I'm chairman of Waxman Strategies, a firm that my son founded and I joined when I left Congress. We represent and occasionally lobby for clients that we support, whose causes we think are beneficial. When I left Congress, I was looking at law firms, but the law firms wanted me to commit to lobby for their clients, many of whom I fought against for years when I was a member of Congress. So my son said, "Come with me. We can work together," and I said, "I'll be glad to do it, but I'll only lobby for and support clients whose causes I support now or have supported in the past." Do you miss being on Capitol Hill?  No, I do not miss being on the Hill. The atmosphere is so polarized and poisonous that it seems so difficult to get things done and to get bipartisan support, which is what I always sought to do when I was legislating. So I'm happy to be working on the sidelines and working on supporting those issues that I think are important. Were you surprised at how quickly the climate deal came together?  It wasn't surprising. Sometimes you work year after year, and you can't get to the end goal. But when a deal is there, it can happen pretty fast. I know most of the legislation I worked on in Congress took many years to come together, but when we finally had the stars aligned, then we could move forward. Are you experiencing déjà vu, given your work on the Waxman-Markey bill? It's not déjà vu; it's just an ongoing drama that I've lived with as someone who thinks it's essential for us to tackle this problem of climate change and high health care costs. In terms of the environmental efforts to hold down greenhouse gas emissions, we've tried a number of approaches over the years, and I'm interested to see what finally passed. Do you think this sort of bill could have passed instead of Waxman-Markey? Or do you think we had to wait until this moment to get this bill?  It wasn't the approach that we tried to pass through Congress. [Waxman-Markey] passed the House, but it didn't pass the Senate. We took the work product of an organization made up of environmentalists and industry to support an approach to reducing emissions which was quite regulatory, but it offered incentives by regulating carbon emissions in the economy overall. [Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee] didn't want regulation. I asked them what their approach was, and their approach was to deny there was an issue. I remember asking the Republican leader of the committee — [Texas Rep.] Joe Barton at the time I became chairman — I asked him if we could work together, because this is a serious problem; it shouldn't be partisan. He said, "Why do I want to work with you to solve a problem I don't think exists?" I think most people now understand climate change is not something that may happen to us, but it's something that is happening to us. Do you think Democrats will lose the House in the midterm elections this fall? I have no crystal ball, but given all the historical trends and the close margin in the House right now, I would think it's likely that Democrats will lose control. What do you think that would look like for the Biden administration for the next two years, having been Oversight chairman? It makes me even more grateful to the Biden administration and the Congress for all the things they are getting done now. They'll have to work harder to get much of anything done in the next two years.   INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. 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WHAT WE'RE CLICKING — China isn't escaping drought conditions and the impact on commerce, the FT reports. — Black farmers seeking redress for past bias are disappointed with the IRA's relief package, Reuters says. — Harvard is planning to offer free tuition for the lowest-income MBA students; the FT also has that story.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.       Follow us on Twitter Debra Kahn @debra_kahn Greg Mott @gwmott Lorraine Woellert @Woellert Jordan Wolman @jordanwolman   Follow us

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