In the House, a power struggle by design
SCORE ONE for Ed Markey -- and, if he's skillful, for a new way of doing business in the US House of Representatives as well.
The Seventh District congressman has long been an activist on energy conservation and global warming, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for whom climate change is a key concern, is about to make him the House's public point man on the issue. As has been reported, Pelsoi is tapping Markey to lead a new Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
Although it's being done diplomatically, Markey's higher profile will clearly come at the expense of John Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. First elected in 1955, Dingell, 80, is a storied figure, the only House member whose service dates back into the 1950s. Over the years, he's been both a prolific legislator and a force to be reckoned with when he opposes something. And as a representative who is perhaps the closest congressional ally of US automakers, Dingell has long been skeptical about global warming and against requiring higher fuel-economy standards.
Not Markey. Third in seniority on Dingell's committee, he pushed an appliance efficiency law through Congress in the late 1980s. And he's spent years trying to raise corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards -- efforts Dingell has opposed.
Now Markey will have a forum to promote that and other energy issues related to global warming -- much to the consternation of Dingell. At one point, Dingell was threatening a floor fight over the creation of the select committee, though assurances that the new panel won't have actual bill-writing authority seem to have cooled his ire some.
"My understanding is that Mr. Dingell has put his sword away because the committee doesn't have legislative authority," says US Representative Michael Capuano, a close adviser to Pelosi.
But that hardly means Dingell likes the idea.
"We should probably name it the committee on world travel and junkets," Dingell groused to the Associated Press. "We're just empowering a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs to go around and make speeches and make commitments that will be very difficult to honor."
Reading that, a skeptic might well think that the chairman views Markey as a publicity hound. (Imagine!) Still, to be an effective legislator on high-profile matters, one has to be press-savvy, and during his three decades in Congress, Markey has proved adept at bringing important issues to the fore.
The power struggle has a political significance beyond the important subject itself. Pelosi hopes to close the curtain on the days when committee chairmen were barons whose power rivaled that of the speaker. But her effort clearly threatens some senior members, who bring old operating assumptions to what Democrats hope will be a new era.
Dingell "lives in the time when chairmen basically ran the place," says US Representative Barney Frank. "Things have changed. One of the problems . . . is that there was too much autonomy back then."
In this tougher political time, the House needs a more assertive speaker and a more unified Democratic message, Frank says. Problem: Pelosi's "100 hours" issues initiative notwithstanding, imposing an agenda on strong-willed committee chairmen could prove to be the political equivalent of herding cats.
Although Pelosi has agreed that Dingell will develop the legislation on global warming, the speaker has also told the chairman she wants it reported out of committee by July 4, says Brendan Daly, her spokesman.
Make no mistake, however: Markey will become the higher-profile public face of the House effort. Although his panel won't be writing the actual legislation, it will certainly highlight environmental concerns, and probably offer recommendations.
And that will keep the heat on Dingell -- which is just as clearly Pelosi's intent.
"Nancy never proposed diminishing his actual legislative authority," notes Frank. "What she was doing was putting some pressure on him. If the select committee comes out with a proposal, he will be under some pressure to do something."
What happens if Dingell drags his feet? No one quite knows.
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," says Daly.
This, then, will be a real test of Pelosi's ability to mold the House's disparate Democratic membership into an effective governing force.
And Markey now finds himself a pivotal player in that congressional power struggle -- a struggle that could determine the success or failure of Pelosi's new approach.
Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com. 
