Issa and Waxman

From UT Newsblog:
May 20, 2008
Issa almost booted

Rep. Henry Waxman banged the gavel a half dozen times to silence Rep. Darrell Issa Tuesday.

According to Dow Jones Newswire, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee then told the Vista Republican: "I will have you physically removed from this meeting if you don't stop."

The confrontation came during a hearing in Washington when Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson refused to say whether he had spoken to President Bush before deciding various environmental policies.

The Dow Jones dispatch said Issa kept interrupting Waxman, D-Los Angeles, by saying that lawmakers were supposed to take turns speaking, rotating from one party to the next.

Issa said that White House involvement in EPA activities was nothing new and happened in the Clinton administration, according to The Associated Press. Furthermore, said Issa, such involvement "is allowed" under the law.

After that dust up, Johnson told Waxman that he has routine meetings with the president and did not think it was appropriate to discuss the details of what they say.