California: Henry Waxman

The final numbers on the stimulus package are trickling out.  Some of the baseline investments are here:

* Investments in Infrastructure and Science - $120 billion
* Investments in Health - $14.2 billion
* Investments in Education and Training - $105.9 billion
* Investments in Energy, including over $30 billion in infrastructure - $37.5 billion
* Helping Americans Hit Hardest by the Economic Crisis - $24.3 billion
* Law Enforcement, Oversight, Other Programs - $7.8 billion

It's unquestionable that the conference report is worse than the House bill but better than the Senate.  It costs less than the Senate bill while providing more stimulus.  Some bad spending like

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) has only been chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee for one day, but the GOP leadership is wasting little time drawing battle lines on an issue close to the veteran congressman's heart.

House Republican Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) sent Waxman a letter Friday asking the incoming chairman to stop supporting legislation that would allow California to impose the strictest fuel-efficiency standards in the country.

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-Los Angeles) ascension to the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday was celebrated by California environmentalists who were frustrated for years by former Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.), a Detroit-area congressman with close ties to the city's auto industry.

House Democrats will soon decide the fate of U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-Los Angeles) intraparty power struggle with Congressman John Dingell (D-Mich.) over the latter’s post as chair of the powerful Energy and Finance Committee.

On Wednesday, the Democrats’ Steering and Policy Committee will vote on the influential post. The loser can then bring the vote to the full caucus on Thursday by producing a petition signed by 35 House members.