Pelosi and Dingell make nice

Committee Clash of 2007 settled semi-amicably

Posted by David Roberts at 7:58 AM on 07 Feb 2007

Read more about: politics | Nancy Pelosi | John Dingell

Ending a struggle that easily could have gotten ugly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell have settled their feud. Looks like Pelosi has agreed to make the special committee all bark, no bite:

In a new letter [PDF] to Pelosi, Dingell wrote that the select committee has no legislative authority and that the panel will expire on Oct. 30, 2008. Dingell also wrote that he has "assurances" from Pelosi that his committee will get first dibs to call witnesses where there could be potential conflict and that Pelosi will be consulted "before the exercise of any compulsory powers by the select committee to ensure the appropriate coordination of efforts."

And by "appropriate coordination of efforts," I mean you won't pants me in public.

It will be fun to watch the interplay of these committees as things heat up.

For story: Pelosi and Dingell make nice
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It was just the other day...

...that I linked to the original press release announcing the committee, which clearly stated that it would have no legislative power. The only point the letter adds is that Pelosi will have to approve subpoenas, which is really just an extension of the concept of the existing committees having dibs on witnesses. I repeat the point that all of this is completely consistent with the original concept of an all-bark committee, and that there never was a feud.

For what it's worth, my hypothesis about what happened behind the scenes is that the Dem leadership, Dingell included, recognized that such a committee is an important part of their strategy to hammer the Repugs in November 2008 (by giving the climate change issue a higher and more focused profile than would be feasible through the existing committee structure). At the same time, Dingell needed to be seen to engage in some minor public histrionics to make sure his public image as a tool of the auto industry/unions remains unsullied. What happens with actual legislation during the next two years isn't terribly important since Dingell can be confident that Bush will veto any legislation strong enough to really upset Dingell's constituency.

And oh yes, isn't that October 30, 2008 date interesting? Why, it's a Thursday! Can we say "peak of the news cycle just before the election," Mr. Roberts? I think we can. :)

by Steve Bloom at 3:54 PM on 07 Feb 2007

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