Democrats Rename 5 House Committees

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON - In taking back control of the House, Democrats also are restoring the old names used for committees when they last headed them in 1994.

Republicans swept into power in that year's midterm elections had created their own monikers for several committees. As part of the rules changes adopted this week, Democrats reclaimed the old names for several committee and created a new name for one other panel:

• The Committee on Education and the Workforce was changed back to its pre-1995 name, Education and Labor. Tom Kiley, a spokesman for incoming chairman George Miller, D-Calif., said Miller "believed that the name change in 1994 was a deliberate swipe at the labor movement in this country. He wanted to reverse the insult."

• The House Resources Committee is now the House Natural Resources Committee — the name it received in 1993 and lost in 1995. (It started in 1816 as the Committee on Public Lands.) Incoming Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said the new name shows Congress' "commitment to conserving our nation's unique natural and cultural heritage — including its natural environment, public lands and forests, and fish and wildlife."

more…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070106/ap_on_go_co/committee_name_changes

[napi21]

1. Good for them! The old names soundmore like what they should be

and I like it that the new Dems are sticking it to the Pubs right away!

[illinoisprogressive]

2. Waxman is just loving this. I can just see him

doing little happy dances and rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
that should be his theme song
i jut love this. things are right in the world again.

[yardwork]

38. I noticed the swipe at Waxman by the writer of the article

The last paragraph contains this highly editorialized last sentence:

• Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., is chairman of the newly renamed Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which had been the Government Reform Committee only since 1999. Before then, it was the Government Reform and Oversight Committee. Waxman revels in his reputation as a watchdog over the executive branch.

[eleny]

3. My favorite...

The Government Reform Committee is now the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. }(

[Judi Lynn]

18. They tried to bury the word "Oversight." So sorry for them that it's BACK. n/t

[stephinrome]

20. Mine, too!

Oversight!

[The Wizard]

43. Before the oversight

was restored to the committee name it was the overlook through neglect committee. Orange jump suits and rooms in the Graybar Hotel and License Plate Factory. I anxiously await the movie version "Cool Hand Karl." :party: :party: :toast: :bounce:

[onehandle]

4. Kick GOP Ass! Hey, lurking freepers...

Are you enjoying this as much as I am?

No?

GOOD!

[Judi Lynn]

19. Here are a couple more committees they will love to see:

• Returning to a name first bestowed in 1922, the International Relations Committee is once again the Foreign Affairs Committee. Holocaust survivor Rep. Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., wields the gavel.

(Guess who headed THAT committee until this week, in case you didn't know: HENRY TOO INDISCREET FOR HIS CLOTHES HYDE!!!!! HENRY!)


• The Science Committee is now the Committee on Science and Technology to more accurately describe the committee's jurisdiction, Democratic counsel John Piazza said. He said the Republicans' 1995 change shortened the name from the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Tennessee Democrat Bart Gordon is the new chairman.
(snip)

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[Selteri]

33. I know the freepers are POd'

My mother might not be a FR poster but she's a loyal Fox News Lovin' Republican. Yesterday she commented on Nancy Pelosi comparing her to Hitler. I know that means she must be pissed. It is so funny and truly sad that she's lost herself in the hype.

On Edit -

As a subnote - I love how fast she whipped out the Hitler Comparison 1 day after the Dem's took power. I will admit I have made the comparison of Bush to Hitler, the first time I made any comparison to Hitler with Bush was when he supported the so called Patriot Act. I still would compare him to Hitler, Ceasar and Napoleon. Only I'd say of that family he'd qualify as the slow child that doesn't really get it.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. Makes me giddy

one step at a time, we'll fix this.

:bounce:

[w13rd0]

6. As we've seen over the past decade...

...change always seems to come when you change the language of the discussion. And the fact that all these name changes took place in 1995, on the heels of the "Gingrich Revolution", is indicative of the spirit in which the alterations were made, greed and subservience to the GOPs paymasters.

[JI7]

7. i didn't even know they had changed this

but really shows how far these fuckers go to create false images in people's heads. fucking assholes. i'm glad they are out of power and hope they never get back in.

[Dammit Ann]

17. i think i love you.

:party: :toast:

[me b zola]

8. Great start @ beginning to put the US back together again

I have been really hoping that they will reverse/make go away the more substantial changes/damage that has been done to our government. The office of faith based initiatives needs to go to the trash heap where it belongs.

Recommended for hope that the rest of our government will be restored.

[jgraz]

9. We really need a "Kick Chimpy in the Nuts" committee

They could just subpoena B*sh every Monday, take turns kicking him hard in the sack and then send him back home.

[jamesinca]

11. But he will have a signing statement

One that says it is just a hateful kick in the nuts to a family man that likes to procreate, by family hating Dems. Not a kick in the nuts that has anything to do with policy.

[vickitulsa]

12. Oh man, THANKS for this!

I haven't spluttered and laughed out loud real good in a while and it's so nice to go to bed on such a happy thought!

:still laughing with that image in my head:

[never cry wolf]

13. Hell, that committee could solve the deficit problem

Charge muricans $20 a kick and de outlanders $50 a kick.... There goes the deficit.... A total win-win situation

[John Q. Citizen]

15. Then they'd never impeach him. n/t

[jgraz]

16. Hell, if we got weekly nut-kicks, I'd vote him into a third term

On second thought: not really...

[JudyM]

31. LOL!

[PADemD]

29. Kind of Like the British "Prime Minister's Questions"

I always thought our government needed something like that.

[calimary]

34. LOL! Yeah! Except, before you send him home, send him a letter

telling him he has to report back one more time. THEN he gets to go home.

[northofdenali]

10. Added my rec - I LOVE this one from the same article:

"Rep. Henry Waxman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., is chairman of the newly renamed Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which had been the Government Reform Committee only since 1999. Before then, it was the Government Reform and Oversight Committee. Waxman revels in his reputation as a watchdog over the executive branch. (Emphasis mine).

ROCK ON DEMS!!! KICK ASS!! :dem::kick::kick::dem:

Stories like this have had me weepy since the 4th! And the fantastic pictures of Nancy, as well.

[DemReadingDU]

21. WooHoo, Waxman!

:woohoo:

[calimary]

36. No kidding! How I LOVE having that tenacious bulldog as my

Congressman. Henry "The Righteous" Waxman! Earn it, Henry! Earn it!

Proud Henry Waxman woman here.

[fishwax]

14. that's great to see

:bounce:

[tanyev]

22. Oh, yeah.

:applause::applause:

[PurityOfEssence]

23. A rose by any other name IS a little different.

Good.

[soothsayer]

24. A lovely shot across the bow! Good for them. I had no idea the

bastards had even pulled this stunt, but you damn well know they did it for a reason. Glad to see the world returnining to normal now that THE ADULTS ARE BACK IN CHARGE!

[llmart]

25. This is fantastic....

now I want to see them change some of the laws that the Repugs changed from the Clinton era - give it right back to them like they did to us.

[seafan]

26. Retire the fascist *Department of Homeland Security*.

Committee on Port, Border and Infrastructure protection would serve well.

[KittyWampus]

27. Brilliant. I am going to start a GD thread with your suggestion!

[LibDemAlways]

37. Excellent Suggestion.

The term "homeland" is creepy. How it was introduced and became so widely accepted after 9/11 is beyond me. Politicians of all stripes and the corporate whores started tossing it around as though it had always been a part of the US lexicon and it caught on.

Your suggestion for an alternate works for me.

[LiberalFighter]

46. It was creepy because it sounded like the Hiter Fatherland era

[Oak2004]

41. What drives me crazy about it is

that isn't the Department of Defense supposed to be in charge of securing our "homeland"?? The two departments are tantamount to an admission that the Department of "Defense" is really the Department of Imperial Warfare.

[Morgana LaFey]

50. What's wrong with "Domestic Security"?

Altho I'm not averse to your idea.

[DemGa]

28. Great job!

It's truly disgusting the way Republicans play word games to distort reality.

[IWantAChange]

30. GOP BizzaroWorld is cracking - c'mon Dems, keep hammering.

It's subtle, but a return to what WAS in even something as benign as committee names coupled with Lobbyist reforms and re-instituting oversight hopefully signals the start to the end of the Republican Party in its current morphed state.

[cyclezealot]

32. good start

. The Repuke change reflected an anti environment anti people mentality. Back to where the government is mean't to be . An ally of our nations' citizenry; instead of thinking of people as consumers.

[Clarkie1]

35. Really interesting how the names are a reflection of the underlying philosophy.

What's in a name? Quite a lot, perhaps.

[LuckyX]

39. CUT THE FUNDING FOR THE WAR NOW!

and stop playing games while people are still dying!

[Old and In the Way]

40. Language matters....taking back control of it is an important 1st step.

Hopefully, a small token of the big changes to come.

[ReadTomPaine]

42. Bingo - it certainly does matter. n/t

[Dumak]

44. petty republicans

What kind of mind decides that the word "Natural" must be removed from "Natural Resources"??? The same one that must use "Democrat" when "Democratic" is clearly appropriate, I guess. What petty people, these Republicans are.

[Skittles]

47. YOU KNOW IT, DUMAK

WELCOME TO THE DU :hi:

[superconnected]

45. Kudo's to the new congress. You are already making me proud

.

[Laelth]

48. Rock on, Democrats!

Time to show who's in charge. At least we actually know how to govern a country. All Repukes can do is get elected!

:yourock:

-Laelth

[wicket]

49. This is awesome

K & R

:kick:

[Bushies gotta go]

51. While they are at it... how about

getting rid of the name "Homeland Security"... Every time I hear that, I think of Nazi Germany....

(oh wait, that was the point, wasn't it?)