Waxman Plans Tougher Oversight Of Companies

WASHINGTON -- California Rep. Henry Waxman, the vocal corporate critic slated to run a powerful committee if Democrats win the House, said he would aggressively expand oversight of many large industries -- with a focus on drug prices, oil-company profits and Halliburton Co.'s contracting work in Iraq.
In an interview, Rep. Waxman, the senior minority member of the House Government Reform Committee, said he also would boost oversight of the Bush administration, along with "waste, fraud and abuse" across the federal government -- especially rebuilding efforts in Iraq and the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast. The committee has extensive -- and vaguely defined -- oversight responsibilities covering broad swaths of corporate America and the government, and the chairman has the power to issue subpoenas, compel testimony and call hearings.

Of particular concern, Mr. Waxman said, would be rooting out what he called "profiteering." His aides define the term broadly enough that it encompasses Iraq contracting, the massive growth in homeland security expenditures, pharmaceutical prices and soaring oil-industry profits. Probes into prices and profits could prove controversial, however, because the government itself has never been able to define precisely what constitutes price-gouging or profiteering.
In discussing his goals, Mr. Waxman is touching on many of the hot-button issues being aired both in the campaign and behind the scenes among Democrats. The party has been debating how much to spotlight what could be controversial actions before voters go to the polls, or how much to stick to more general policy slogans. Republicans already have begun trying to cast Mr. Waxman as a partisan who would abuse his investigative powers. More on the story.

Way to go Mr. Waxman!