Get well quickly, Rep. Waxman!

We need you!:

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is still in a Los Angeles hospital after being admitted on Tuesday. The 69-year-old chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee had fainted and is under evaluation.

The congressman was not feeling well when he fainted, but is now "in good spirits," the Los Angeles Times quotes spokesman Karen Lightfoot as saying. He is still at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for some tests.

Congress is currently in a week-long July 4 recess and will return to session on Monday. But Waxman had been pushing himself hard in the past weeks, crafting along with Environment Subcommittee chairman Edward Markey (D-MA) a landmark energy bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which Democrats were able to pass last Friday despite enormous opposition from Republicans, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and initially, even farm state Democrats.

Why?
Waxman Wants State Dep't DynCorp Documents

Letter From Rep. Waxman To Banks Questions Ethics Of Using Taxpayer Funds For Bonuses

Rep. Waxman Announces Democratic Membership of Oversight Committee

What a quick google search brings up. There's no better bulldog in Congress for getting oversight enacted and people held accountable.

Waste, fraud, and abuse

The Bush administration's three tenets for governing:

Just who the hell does he think he is?

Cheney declares himself fourth untouchable branch of government:

The Office of Vice President Dick Cheney told an agency within the National Archives that for purposes of securing classified information, the Vice President's office is not an 'entity within the executive branch' according to a letter released Thursday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, you exempted the Office of the Vice President from the presidential executive order that establishes a uniform, government-wide system for safeguarding classified national security information," Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the Committee's chairman, wrote in a letter to Cheney. "Your decision to exempt your office from the President's order is problematic because it could place national security secrets at risk. It is also hard to understand given the history of security breaches involving officials in your office."

Waxman noted that Cheney's office had declared itself not affected by an executive order amended by President George W. Bush in 2003 regarding classification and declassification of government materials.

Via Sorghum Crow at Sorghum Crow's General Store.

Update: Waxman is on the case!

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice President, the National Archives protested the Vice President's position in letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored, the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January 2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President's staff responded by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for implementing the President's executive order.

In his letter to the Vice President, Chairman Waxman writes: "I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions. ... [I]t would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials."

An invitation you can't refuse

Especially from Henry Waxman:

A powerful House committee chairman released new details yesterday about a widening investigation into allegations of "improper conduct" by the chief of the U.S. General Services Administration.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), head of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said his investigators had obtained information that raises "further questions" about GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan's efforts to give a no-bid job to a longtime friend and professional associate.

Waxman also revealed new allegations that Doan "asked GSA officials in a January teleconference how the agency could be used to help Republican candidates," in possible violation of federal law.

He invited Doan to testify before his panel on March 20.