Who Has and Will Replace the Watergate "Class of 74" Democrats? We just lost Two More!
(With the announcement of George Miller and Henry Waxman's retirement..this will leave a big gap. Also Max Baucus.)
Five Congressional Democrats, from the class of 1975, from left: Representatives George Miller and Henry A. Waxman of California; Senators Max Baucus of Montana, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Tom Harkin of Iowa.
Watergate’s Role in the Health Overhaul
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
December 21, 2009, NOTE: (Older article for Reference)
Add this to Richard M. Nixon’s résumé: Godfather of the Democrats’ big health care legislation in 2009.
Nixon, the 37th president, was known for working with Democrats on health care policy, including legislation in 1971 that opened a major government effort to fight cancer.
But his contribution to the current bill was to serve as more of a political counterforce: five of the six Democratic committee chairmen primarily responsible for writing the current health legislation were first elected to the House in 1974, riding a wave of public resentment over the Watergate scandal.
With the Senate poised to approve its health care measure before Christmas, and Democrats casting their thoughts forward to negotiations to reconcile differences between the Senate and House bills, the longstanding relationship of the chairmen — as members of the freshmen Congressional class of 1975 — could help smooth the way.
The five Democrats are: Senator Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Finance Committee; Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, acting chairman of the health committee for much of this year; Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, the new chairman of the health committee; Representative George Miller of California, chairman of the Education and Labor Committee; and Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
All were elected on Nov. 5, 1974, in a Democratic sweep that followed Nixon’s resignation, and all were sworn in to the House on Jan. 3, 1975. Thirty-five years later, each will have a strong hand in the final negotiations on the health measure.
The only chairman not in the class of 1975 is Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, who heads the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and was first elected in 1970. UPDATE NOTE: Charlie Rangel is running in 2014 but has said he will retire for 2016.
I am surprised someone hasn’t picked up on this historical kind of twist,” Mr. Dodd said Monday. “We have known each other and worked with each other literally for years. So we come into this with a lot of understanding of each other and a desire to get this done
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/21/watergates-role-in-the-health-overhaul/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0