The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works [Hardcover]

Henry Waxman (Author), Joshua Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 2009

At a time when some of the most sweeping national initiatives in decades are being debated, Congressman Henry Waxman offers a fascinating inside account of how Congress really works by describing the subtleties and complexities of the legislative process.

For four decades, Waxman has taken visionary and principled positions on crucial issues and been a driving force for change. Because of legislation he helped champion, our air is cleaner, our food is safer, and our medical care better. Thanks to his work as a top watchdog in Congress, crucial steps have been taken to curb abuses on Wall Street, to halt wasteful spending in Iraq, and to ban steroids from Major League Baseball. Few legislators can match his accomplishments or his insights on how good work gets done in Washington.

In this book, Waxman affords readers a rare glimpse into how this is achieved-the strategy, the maneuvering, the behind-the-scenes deals. He shows how the things we take for granted (clear information about tobacco's harmfulness, accurate nutritional labeling, important drugs that have saved countless lives) started out humbly-derided by big business interests as impossible or even destructive. Sometimes, the most dramatic breakthroughs occur through small twists of fate or the most narrow voting margin. Waxman's stories are surprising because they illustrate that while government's progress may seem glacial, much is happening, and small battles waged over years can yield great results.

At a moment when so much has been written about what's wrong with Congress-the grid­lock, the partisanship, the influence of interest groups-Henry Waxman offers sophisticated, concrete examples of how govern­ment can (and should) work.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After 35 years in the House of Representatives, Waxman, the mustached congressman from California, offers a very readable insider's account of his 35 years in the House. The longtime governmental watchdog crusaded for AIDS awareness, the Clean Air Act and stronger tobacco regulations as chairman of the Health and Environment subcommittee. The book chronicles the strategies and horse trading necessary to enact these regulations, including coalition building, raising public awareness and remaining informed on the countless issues affecting his constituency. Waxman doesn't romanticize his position, and admits that the qualities that have best served him have been patience, a knack for finding allies... and the ability to persevere. His conviction that government can better the lives of citizens is uplifting and strengthened by his record of implementing landmark legislation. The book frequently reads too much like a civics lesson to be fully engrossing, but the explanation of the workings of a widely misunderstood government body is a public service from a committed civil servant. (July)
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Review

"A very readable insider's account... Waxman's conviction that government can better the lives of citizens is uplifting and strengthened by his record of implementing landmark legislation... the explanation of the workings of a widely misunderstood government body is a public service from a committed civil servant." (Publishers Weekly )

A welcome look at the internal workings of the legislative branch-- essential for political junkies. (Kirkus )

"Pretty faces and promising careers tend to flash across our local political firmament with the frequency of shooting stars -- and with about as much effect. But for more than two decades, the most consequential elected official in Southern California has been a short, bald, decidedly mustached congressman from Los Angeles' Westside named Henry Waxman . . . the congressman, now 69, has, along with his collaborator Joshua Green of the Atlantic magazine, produced something unexpected and rather fine. THE WAXMAN REPORT is part compelling memoir, part fascinating, shrewd civics lesson and part bracing statement of practical idealism. It's impossible to put down and a joy to read -- a model, in fact, of lucid exposition. If your plans for the long Independence Day weekend incline toward thoughts on the state of the nation, skip all the patriotic kitsch and read this book . . . The timing is fortuitous, because Waxman is more than ever at the center of events, since the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he chairs, shares jurisdiction over the energy and healthcare issues key to President Obama's agenda . . . One of the pleasures of THE WAXMAN REPORT is tracing the origins of these signature traits to his Los Angeles boyhood . . . Most of all, it's a detailed inside account of just how the nation's laws are made. It succeeds as storytelling because Waxman and Green have structured most of the book as a series of narrative examples built around major bills. Thus chapters are titled, for instance, 'HIV/AIDS and the Ryan White Act,' 'The Orphan Drug Act,' 'The Clean Air Act' and 'The Tobacco Wars.' There's a fascinating chapter on baseball and steroids as well. Most of all, there's a persuasive declaration of faith in that particular brand of liberalism that the late Arthur Schlesinger called 'the politics of remedy.' As Waxman puts it, 'In Boyle Heights, everyone thought of government as an institution that helped people' . . . As this heartfelt, important little book will remind its readers, there's a lot to be said for the faith of our fathers." (Los Angeles Times )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Twelve; 1 edition (July 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446519251
• ISBN-13: 978-0446519250
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #737,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 61 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Power of Being Right July 4, 2009

By P. Lester

Format:Hardcover

"Facts are stubborn things." It's a quote variably attributed to Mark Twain, John Adams, and the French novelist Alain-Rene Lesage (if Wikipedia serves me). Whatever its origins, it is an apt phrase to describe the theme of Henry Waxman's new book, "The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works."

Most books of this genre are notable for their cynicism about Washington, including its supposedly pervasive corruption and the power of money. Set against that backdrop, Waxman, a 34-year veteran of the House of Representatives and one of its most powerful members, must come across as hopelessly naďve. He's not.

In fact, Waxman spends most of the book describing a little known truth about Washington: that it is actually dominated by people who love their country and are trying their best to do the right thing. They may not always be good at it, they may sometimes disagree with one another, and they may choose to score points on each other. But at the end of the day most, or at least enough, are committed public servants dedicated to the common good (or at least wish to be perceived that way) that productive policies get enacted. That's why moneyed interests so often lose.

Waxman's book is basically a collection of stories describing such occasions. The stories range from reauthorizing the Clean Air Act, to regulating tobacco, to fighting the petro-chemical industry over pesticides, and more. In each case, Waxman won by researching the issues and marshalling solid evidence. Facts and good policy won the day, if not immediately, then eventually.

In each of these efforts, Waxman was aided by solid staff work, which anyone who works in Washington (I do) knows is critical. Waxman says as much himself ("I have always felt that the key to success in legislation is having the best staff possible"), though the quote is taken from the acknowledgements, not the book itself. Waxman's staff did investigative research, wrote and released reports, developed relationships with other staff inside agencies and with whistleblowers who leaked them information, and negotiated with other congressional staff to work out the details of complex bills. Waxman actually admonishes himself for "getting ahead" of his staff on an FDA bill, a mistake he says that others usually make to their own detriment.

Waxman doesn't really make this point, but values are as important as facts. Human beings are complicated because we are capable of selfless acts in pursuit of a greater good. The book describes countless occasions where his efforts were aided by such acts. His campaign against the tobacco industry was aided by people inside leaking confidential memos. His work on drug use in Major League Baseball was helped by players who outed themselves because they felt it was the right thing to do. When the Reagan administration took the wrong position on an environmental or health issue, whistleblowers from inside the agency would leak information that undermined the administration's case. Even top-level administration officials took major risks, as was the case with C. Everett Koop and AIDS.

The combined power of facts and values have made possible every important advance described in this book -- and many, many more. Without them, we would not have the environmental laws that we have today. We would not have consumer laws, or laws providing health insurance for the poor, or any other legislation that pitted powerful, moneyed special interests against the public interest. And yet those laws exist. While not perfect, their very existence is evidence of the power of the public interest and the common good.

This view is not widely shared. Robert G. Kaiser, associate editor of The Washington Post and author of "So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government," wrote the review of this book for the Post. In it, Kaiser writes, "Congress has seldom ensured that the public interest prevails over special interests -- quite the opposite." And yet, just a few sentences later, Kaiser concedes that Waxman "managed to push pesticide legislation through the Congress when it was controlled by anti-regulatory Republicans." I wonder how?

I should acknowledge that I reviewed Kaiser's own book critically because I disagreed with him on this point. It may seem sophisticated to adopt such cynical views. But anyone who has observed the incredibly long hours put in by dedicated public servants on both sides of the aisle in pursuit of good public policy knows otherwise. They are not all angels, but neither are they all rogues, and good usually does win in the end.

If I have one criticism of Waxman's book, though, it's that he fails to sufficiently acknowledge the contribution of public interest groups to the victories he describes (I work for one of them). Legislation like the Clean Air Act, consumer laws, the tobacco deal, and laws providing health care to the poor owe a lot to these groups, but they warrant barely a mention in the book. Waxman's primary observation of them is that they (we) are a bit too purist, which is actually true in many cases. But we also do a lot to push the ball down the field. Earlier in the book, Waxman talks about the importance of out-organizing the opposition. Public interest groups play an important part in that equation.

Something else worth noting is Waxman's somewhat dated view of organizing. Earlier in the book, he talks about driving across California in a battered old Buick to organize the state's Young Democrats in the 1960s. That was a long time ago. These days, a lot of organizing happens online, both among the public interest organizations and also the bloggers. These tools and tactics helped get Barack Obama elected president.

Given that Waxman is now chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and thus a major player in health care reform, he would be well served by renewing his commitment to organizing and coming up to speed on the latest tactics. But then again, his staff can probably help him with that.

Overall, Waxman's book is refreshing, both for its idealism and its realism. It is not just a tale of how Washington should work, but how it really does.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Citizen's Guide To Good Government July 7, 2009

By Paul Johnson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

- Why did we ever believe cigarettes were safe, and when did that fallacious idea end?

- How did we end up with nutritional facts on food labels?

- What ever happen to the problem of acid rain?

- When did research and private sector creation of drugs for orphan diseases like Huntington's Disease begin to flourish?

- Why is there less smog over cities today than there was in the 1970s?

Many of these answers, to some extent or another, can be traced back to the work of Henry Waxman. In this tour de force book about Congress, Henry Waxman seeks not to celebrate personal success, but to highlight that government can be a source of good. Not to celebrate government generally, but to set out examples where government played its role effectively. Not to push a liberal agenda, but to show how many bipartisan ideas that were once controversial, are no longer considered twice.

If you are a policy wonk, a legislative watcher, or a political junkie this book is for you, but most of all this book is for citizens who want to actively understand and take part in their democracy. That is the major point of my review, but let me illustrate it with an example.

In the early 1980s Waxman's Congressional office received a call from a constituent who had a son with Tourette's Syndrome. The drug he needed was available in Canada, but not available in the United States because it was not profitable enough. As Waxman's staff received other calls and sought out other folks who were sick, they realized there were ten's if not hundreds of other "orphan diseases" that were affecting many people but were not profitable enough.

Waxman responded with legislation that credit a 50% tax credit for research costs (I could be a little off on this exact detail), that streamlined and reformed the expensive FDA approval process because of the small research pool, and expanded grants for research for these diseases. From this legislation hundreds of drugs have come forth, many many small biotechnology companies have been created, and countless lives have been saved. Was this all because of Henry Waxman and government action? No, but their actions substantially moved efforts in the right direction. And as someone who has a Father with one of those "Orphan Diseases" - Huntington's Disease, - I am thankful that this action was taken.

The moral of the story and the reason to read the book is that all of our voices matter, and that if we speak up and if we speak loud enough with enough voices, we will be heard.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars superb July 14, 2009

By zomax

Format:Hardcover

One of the first things that struck me about this book is its lucidity. The prose is swift and penetrating, and a pleasure. The importance of this is that it supports such a very important message, that the US government actually can work, and it is persons of intellect, drive, and caring that are the ones who can make it work. The problem is the ever present corruption and cynicism of many of those in power, both in government and industry, and Waxman/Green do a thoroughly compelling job of spelling out how one can triumph in a cesspool. What I also find so interesting about all this, is that Waxman is called a liberal by everyone (conservatives generally despise him), but his agenda is to make government serve the people, make the lives of Americans better, and to make government, its elected officials, and industry executives accountable for their actions. So then what does the other side of the aisle want?