Congressman Henry A. Waxman has been representing the Westside of Los Angeles for over 35 years. He is running for his 20th term in California’s newly-configured 33rd Congressional District, which includes the cities of Beverly Hills, Malibu and Santa Monica; the South Bay cities of Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and the Palos Verdes peninsula; the Conejo Valley cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, and Westlake Village; and such areas of Los Angeles as Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Venice.
Rep. Waxman has been Congress’s foremost champion on issues relating to health and the environment. He was Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the 111th Congress, and is currently the Committee’s Ranking Democratic Member. He previously served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.
Rep. Waxman has used his experience and seniority to fight for universal health insurance, comprehensive Medicare and Medicaid coverage, tobacco regulation, AIDS research and treatment, air and water quality standards, pesticide regulations, nursing home quality standards, women's health research and reproductive rights, affordable prescription drugs, and community rights to know about pollution levels.
He introduced the first bill in Congress to stabilize the climate in 1992, and spearheaded passage by the House of Representatives of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (also known as Waxman-Markey). He was one of the primary authors of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, and sponsored the 1986 and 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, the 1996 Food Quality Act (which regulates pesticides), the Radon Abatement Act, and the Lead Contamination Control Act.
His legislative accomplishments also include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (comprehensive health care reform), the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, the Ryan White CARE Act, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Mortality Prevention Act, the Safe Medical Devices Act, the Patent Term Restoration and Drug Competition Act (also known as the Hatch-Waxman Act), the Orphan Drug Act, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009.
Rep. Waxman authored laws that improved the quality of nursing homes and home health services and that set policy for childhood immunization programs, vaccine compensation, tobacco education programs, communicable disease research, community and migrant health centers, maternal and child health care, family planning centers, health maintenance organizations, and drug regulation and reform. He also has been a leading supporter of family planning programs and the right of women to freedom of choice.
From 2007-2009, Rep. Waxman served as Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the principal investigative committee in the House of Representatives. It was in this position that he conducted investigations into a wide range of topics from the high cost of prescription drugs to waste, fraud, and abuse in government contracting and formed a Special Investigations Division that prepared hundreds of investigative reports on local and national topics for Members of Congress.
He also launched investigations of the Bush White House’s ties to Enron, contract abuses in Iraq, and the politicization of science.
Rep. Waxman is considered an expert on Middle East policy and an effective advocate for America’s commitment to Israel's security and survival. He serves as a Congressional appointee to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and helped found the Congressional Democratic Israel Working Group and the Congressional Task Force Against Anti-Semitism.
Prior to his election to Congress, Rep. Waxman served three terms in the California State Assembly, where he was Chairman of the Health Committee, the Committee on Elections and Reapportionment, and the Select Committee on Medical Malpractice. He was the author of such major legislation as the Fair Campaign Practices Act, the Fair Credit for Women Law, and the legislation establishing standards for Health Maintenance Organizations in California.
Rep. Waxman was born September 12, 1939, in Los Angeles, and holds a bachelor's degree in political science from UCLA and a J.D. from the UCLA Law School. He and his wife, the former Janet Kessler, have a daughter, a son, and five grandchildren.
