Southfield (WWJ) -- A Democratic steering committee has voted in support of Rep. Henry Waxman of California becoming the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but congressman John Dingell is confident he'll keep the powerful position.
The committee has jurisdiction over energy, global warming and many other issues like health care.
Dingell and Waxman will still square off Thursday in a vote of House rank and file Democrats.
The steering committee voted 25-22, but the panel is packed with allies of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California. Pelosi did not take sides publicly, but is a home state ally of Waxman's. And she's tangled with Dingell in the past.
Dingell, 82, has been committee's top Democrat for 28 years, and is an important ally of automakers and electric utilities.
Congressman Dingell's Communications Director Jodi Seth told WWJ they are very confident going into Thursday's vote.
"Congressman Dingell's appeal has been to the diversity of the entire caucus," Seth said. She said because of the makeup of the steering panel they expected Waxman to win support.
Dingell has been meeting with undecided democrats seeking their support.
The last time the leadership panel tried to oust a top panel Democrat, in 1996, Rep. Henry Gonzales of the Banking Committee won a vote of the full caucus, which overruled the decision.
Environmentalists and some liberal Democrats, however, see Dingell as an obstacle to stricter fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and cleaner fuels, as Obama also has advocated. They see in Waxman, whose district includes Beverly Hills, an opportunity to push through a more ambitious environmental agenda now that Democrats have expanded their majorities in Congress and will take over the White House.
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