News Releases
Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin, Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim McDermott, and Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Frank Pallone today released a letter sent to Marilyn Tavenner, Acting Administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, on proposed Medicare Advantage and Part D payment rate changes for 2014. Excerpts and full text of the letter below:
Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman spoke on the House floor today in opposition to the Ryan Budget. The full text of his remarks is below.
Launching a bipartisan review of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), the House Energy and Commerce Committee today released its first in a series of white papers that will examine a number of issues emerging with the current system and solicit input from interested stakeholders. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), and other members of the committee are leading the effort to review the law and its implementation.
In January, the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change wrote to over 300 businesses and organizations, soliciting their views on actions the federal government could take to reduce carbon pollution and strengthen our resiliency to climate change. Today, the Task Force released the responses they have received from six faith organizations: the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; the Friends Committee on National Legislation; the Evangelical Environmental Network; the National Council of the Churches of Christ; and Interfaith Power and Light.
Ranking Members Waxman and Rush Request Testimony From Scientists on Urgent Threat of Climate Change
Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Energy and Power Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby L. Rush sent a letter to Chairmen Fred Upton and Ed Whitfield requesting a hearing with scientists and other experts on the need for action to address climate change, following a hearing earlier this month featuring testimony from utilities on the EPA’s proposed carbon standards for new power plants.
Today, Representative Henry A. Waxman, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Representative Earl Blumenauer, and Senator Brian Schatz released draft carbon-pricing legislation and solicited feedback on it from stakeholders and the public. The legislation would establish the polluter pays principle for dangerous carbon pollution, requiring large emitters to pay for the pollution they emit.
Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Energy and Power Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby L. Rush sent a letter to Chairmen Fred Upton and Ed Whitfield requesting a hearing on U.S. trends in greenhouse gas emissions.
Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Ranking Member Anna G. Eshoo, and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette sent a letter to Chairmen Fred Upton, Greg Walden, and Tim Murphy requesting a hearing on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline program, which provides low-income Americans with assistance to receive home phone service.
Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette sent a letter to Chairmen Fred Upton, Joe Pitts, and Tim Murphy requesting a hearing on the public health risks of increasingly prevalent and dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The letter was sent in the wake of an urgent warning by CDC Director Thomas Frieden, who described the bacteria as a “nightmare bacteria” for which “our strongest antibiotics don’t work.”
Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin and Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman today released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealing that the Medicare Trust Fund could save billions of dollars if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) adjusts payments for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to more accurately reflect the health of MA enrollees.