Alum Henry Waxman retires from Congress, leaves legislative legacy

A former U.S. Representative who went to UCLA with Henry Waxman said that behind his serious and earnest demeanor is a wicked sense of humor used throughout his years in Congress.

Henry Waxman retired Saturday from Congress, where he spent 40 years working on health care and climate change legislation, among other issues. Ted Lieu, a former state senator who represented Westwood for years, officially took Waxman’s place on Monday.

Waxman began his path to a legislator in the late 1950s and the 1960s at UCLA and the UCLA School of Law. While at UCLA as an undergraduate, Waxman worked with former U.S. Representative and UCLA alumnus Howard Berman in Westwood Young Democrats, which became today’s Bruin Democrats student group.

“We were involved, we tried to extend the membership,” Berman said about their early involvement in Bruin Democrats.

Waxman, who was the chairman of California Young Democrats after law school, said the membership in Young Democrats grew especially while the group was voicing its opinion against the Vietnam War.

Waxman was also chairman of the Liberal Caucus at UCLA, which adopted several resolutions promoting a nuclear test ban treaty and diplomatic recognition of communist China.

“I think time was on our side,” Waxman said, explaining that both of the resolutions were eventually passed and adopted by the United States government.

This experience at UCLA prepared Waxman for a career of legislation and law, he said.

“I think (my experience at UCLA) taught me how to think, how to question and probe, how to not take things at face value,” Waxman said.

In November last year, Hillel at UCLA established the Henry Waxman Fellowship for Jewish Leaders, made to provide fellows with resources and connect them with prominent leaders to advance their policy-making skills and leadership.

Voters elected Waxman to the California Assembly in 1969, where he drew advice from his constituents at UCLA and Westwood. He followed his three-term Assembly career with a 40-year tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he worked on legislation that has been deemed both beneficial and controversial among his colleagues and constituents.

Waxman chaired the Health and Environment Subcommittee for 16 years, in which he strengthened the Clean Air Act through a series of amendments in the 1980s and 1990s.

Waxman also worked on health care while in Congress. Berman said Waxman was a “crusader against tobacco” who pushed to update warning labels and add restrictions on marketing to minors.

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 as one of President Barack Obama’s legislative pushes in health care, whose individual mandate for getting health insurance coverage caused partisan divide in Congress. When proponents of the bill faced opposition, Waxman helped push the bill through the House.

Some of Waxman’s supporters say he did this by gathering both Democratic and Republican support in the House.

“(Waxman) was a big force behind the Affordable Care Act,” said Aret Frost, fourth-year political science student and president of Bruin Democrats. “In 2009, he was able to rally support … and get it through the House.”

He was able to find Republicans who would support his bills to gain this bipartisanship, Frost said.

“He effectively uses the mechanisms of power,” said Ben Allen, California State Senator, who Waxman endorsed during the 2014 election.

However, Waxman’s policies also have met opposition, especially his work in health care, which historically has created partisan divides in Congress.

Opponents have said Waxman’s policies on health care are ineffective, arguing against the larger involvement of government in health care.

External vice president of Bruin Republicans, Jacob Kohlhepp said he didn’t think the Affordable Care Act had a large enough number of Republican supporters to consider the bill bipartisan.

Waxman said he hasn’t made a decision yet on what he will do after Congress, but he thinks his options are abundant – from teaching to serving on nonprofit and corporate boards.

He said his decision to retire did not come from frustration with Congress, but because he wanted someone other than himself to have a voice in Congress.

“I thought that 40 years was long enough, and it was time for someone new,” Waxman said.