Henry Waxman & Karl Rove's Biography

Representative Henry A. Waxman has a long record of legislative and oversight accomplishment. For forty years, he played a leading role in the enactment of major health, consumer protection, environmental, telecommunications and good government laws. He has also been one of the masters of congressional oversight.

Rep. Waxman’s legislative skill has been widely recognized. His work and tenacity earned him recognition as “one of the most accomplished legislators of our time” by The Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson and “tougher than a boiled owl” by Senator Alan Simpson when pushing for passage of the landmark Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

Some of the major legislation that Rep. Waxman wrote or played a leading role in enacting includes health (The Affordable Care Act, Waxman-Hatch Generic Drug Act, Orphan Drug Act, Ryan White CARE Act, National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and FDA User Fee laws), consumer protection (The Nutrition Labeling Act, Food Quality Protection Act, Food Safety Modernization Act, Cigarette and Smokeless Tobacco Health Warning laws and Safe Medical Devices Act ), environmental protection (The 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, Safe Drinking Water Act amendments, laws reducing childhood lead exposure and laws reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and telecommunications (spectrum reforms and The 21st Century Video and Communications Accessibility Act).

Additionally, Rep. Waxman’s oversight record includes major investigations that probed waste, fraud, and abuse (identified over $1 trillion in wasteful and mismanaged federal contracts), misleading intelligence (exposed over 200 misleading statements by senior Administration officials about the threat posed by Iraq), the tobacco industry (revealed decades of industry concealment of the dangers of smoking and the addictiveness of nicotine), steroids in baseball (uncovered the extent of players’ illegal drug use during baseball’s “steroids era” that prompted major reforms in steroid policies in baseball and other sports), the Wall Street collapse (examined the fall of Lehman Brothers and AIG, the failure of the credit rating agencies, and the negligence and mistakes of market regulators) and the Gulf oil spill (disclosed a series of overlooked warnings and risky decisions made by BP to reduce costs and save time.)

During his time on Congress, Rep. Waxman had the distinction of serving as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Energy & Commerce Committee and Committee on Oversight & Government Reform. He also served as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.

Rep. Waxman currently serves as Chairman at Waxman Strategies, a public affairs and strategic communications firm. He advises clients on public policy and continues to focus on the issues he championed while in Congress. In addition, he serves as a Regent Lecturer for University of California, Los Angeles, and as an advisor and lecturer at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Rep. Waxman is the author of The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works.

Henry Waxman & Karl Rove's Biography

Karl Rove, an iconic political strategist and one of the most sought-after political pundits of our time, is best known for his provocative and robust knowledge of major political issues.

Rove served as Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush from 2000–2007 and Deputy Chief of Staff from 2004–2007. At the White House, he oversaw the Offices of Strategic Initiatives, Political Affairs, Public Liaison, and Intergovernmental Affairs and was Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, coordinating the White House policy-making process. He was the architect of President Bush’s 2008 and 2004 White House victories.

Before the White House, he ran Rove + Co. a Texas based public affairs firm that consulted on over 75 GOP campaigns for Senator, Governor, Congress and statewide offices in 24 states.

Rove was described by author and columnist Michael Barone as “…unique…no Presidential appointee has ever had such a strong influence on politics and policy, and none is likely to do so again anytime soon.” Washington Post Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Broder wrote that Rove was a master political strategist whose “game has always been long term…and he plays it with an intensity and attention to detail that few can match.” Conservative editor and columnist Fred Barnes, called him “the greatest political mind of his generation and probably of any generation… He knows history, understands the moods of the public and is a visionary on matters of public policy.”

Mr. Rove writes a weekly op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, appears frequently on the Fox News Channel, and is the author of the New York Times bestseller Courage and Consequence. His latest book is The Triumph of William McKinley. A Colorado native, Rove lives in Austin, Texas where he teaches at the University of Texas and serves on the Texas State History Museum and McDonald Observatory boards.