Press Kit

Biography:

Chief Deputy Whip Diana DeGette is serving her 6^th term in Congress as the representative for the First District of Colorado. The First Congressional District includes Denver, Cherry Hills Village, Englewood, Glendale, and Sheridan, and is Colorado’s most diverse and densely populated district. 

A life-long Coloradoan, Rep. DeGette is guided by traditional Western values. Rep. DeGette is one of the leading voices in the health care debate in this country. She played a vital role in the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and is the author of legislation to expand stem cell research. She is also the author of the landmark Colorado Wilderness Act, which protects and preserves 1.6 million acres of pristine land across Colorado for generations to come. She has fought to expand her constituents’ access to affordable quality health care, expand mass transit, improve transportation in the Denver area, clean up environmental waste sites, and improve opportunities for small business. Finally, committed to common-sense fiscal responsibility, she is working with like-minded Members of Congress to reduce the national deficit.

Committee Assignments

I was appointed as the Vice Chair of the powerful Committee on Energy and Commerce in January 2007, an exclusive congressional committee with vast jurisdiction over health care, trade, business, technology and consumer protection. I have had the opportunity to serve as the Acting-Chair of the committee in the Chairman’s absence, and will also spearhead special projects and assist the Chairman in promoting the Committee’s legislative agenda.

A member of the Committee since my first term in Congress, I have used my position to improve health care, expand medical research, reform corporate business and accounting practices, and ensure that our homeland is adequately protected. I also serve on the following subcommittees:

• Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
• Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials
• Subcommittee on Health
• Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Jurisdiction

Please see below for full committee and subcommittee jurisdiction

Full Committee

(1) Biomedical research and development.
(2) Consumer affairs and consumer protection.
(3) Health and health facilities (except health care supported by payroll deductions).
(4) Interstate energy compacts.
(5) Interstate and foreign commerce generally.
(6) Exploration, production, storage, supply, marketing, pricing, and regulation of energy resources, including all fossil fuels, solar energy, and other unconventional or renewable energy resources.
(7) Conservation of energy resources.
(8) Energy information generally.
(9) The generation and marketing of power (except by federally chartered or Federal regional power marketing authorities); reliability and interstate transmission of, and ratemaking for, all power; and siting of generation facilities (except the installation of interconnections between Government waterpower projects).
(10) General management of the Department of Energy and management and all functions of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
(11) National energy policy generally.
(12) Public health and quarantine.
(13) Regulation of the domestic nuclear energy industry, including regulation of research and development reactors and nuclear regulatory research.
(14) Regulation of interstate and foreign communications.
(15) Travel and tourism.
(16) Homeland security-related aspects of the foregoing, including cybersecurity; .

The committee shall have the same jurisdiction with respect to regulation of nuclear facilities and of use of nuclear energy as it has with respect to regulation of nonnuclear facilities and of use of nonnuclear energy.
Subcommittee Jurisdictions

Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection

(1) Interstate and foreign commerce, including all trade matters within the jurisdiction of the full committee;
(2) Regulation of commercial practices (the FTC), including sports-related matters;
(3) Consumer affairs and consumer protection, including privacy matters generally; consumer product safety (the CPSC); and product liability; and motor vehicle safety;
(4) Regulation of travel, tourism, and time; and,
(5) Homeland security-related aspects of the foregoing, including cybersecurity.

Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials

(1) Environmental protection in general, including the Safe Drinking Water Act and risk assessment matters;
(2) Solid waste, hazardous waste and toxic substances, including Superfund and RCRA;
(3) Mining, oil, gas, and coal combustion wastes;
(4) Noise pollution control; and,
(5) Homeland security-related aspects of the foregoing.

Subcommittee on Health

(1) Public health and quarantine; hospital construction; mental health and research; biomedical programs and health protection in general, including Medicaid and national health insurance;
(2) Food and drugs;
(3) Drug abuse; and,
(4) Homeland security-related aspects of the foregoing.

Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

(1)   Responsibility for oversight of agencies, departments, and programs within the jurisdiction of the full committee, and for conducting investigations within such jurisdiction.

Past Press Coverage

By Greg Hitt

WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders hope to send President Bush an energy bill this fall that lessens U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but first they must strike compromises acceptable to both House and Senate that will require politically delicate trade-offs involving the auto and utility industries.

In the House of Representatives, which approved its package Saturday on a 241-172 vote, any effort to embrace a big increase in vehicle fuel-economy standards would risk eroding support among Democrats, especially business-friendly moderates worried about U.S. auto makers and their workers. In the Senate, any bid to require electric utilities to dramatically increase use of renewable resources, such as solar and wind power, would strain ties with Republicans whose continued backing is needed. The White House is lodging its own complaints, including concerns that neither bill does anything to boost domestic oil and gas production.

"We have fundamental disagreements" that "are going to be very difficult to negotiate," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D., Colo.).

Approval of energy legislation capped a rancorous week in the House, as Democrats rushed to conclude action on children's health, farm spending and Iraq before lawmakers withdrew for the monthlong summer recess.
With gasoline prices high and voter concern rising about the nation's energy security, Democratic leaders kept the House in session during the weekend to take on the energy issue, reflecting the importance party leaders now place on the initiative. Both the House and Senate bills are designed to improve energy efficiency, and begin weaning the nation off its reliance on fossil fuels.

Among other things, the measures promote wider use of alternative fuels, such as corn-based ethanol and solar power, and would mandate improved energy conservation in commercial and residential buildings.

There are notable differences between the two bills, however. Michigan Democrat John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and an ally of U.S. auto makers, opposes Senate-approved fuel-economy changes, which would raise the minimum fleet average for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, an increase of more than 30% above current law. Other Democrats, including a coalition of moderates, have signaled support for an industry-backed alternative that would require much less stringent standards.

Given the divisions in her party's ranks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose to sidestep the issue last week, in hopes that Democratic leaders will be able to simply insert raised fuel-economy standards into the final compromise package. While she personally supports the Senate-passed increase, it is clear those levels stir concern among rank-and-file House Democrats, and House leaders may be forced to compromise to avoid a revolt on the issue.

The utility mandate could force equally difficult political trade-offs. The measure approved by the House would require electric utilities, which rely heavily on coal, to generate 15% of their power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. New hydroelectric facilities would likely count toward that target, but not necessarily existing hydroelectric plants. People involved with the legislation estimate utilities generate an estimated 3% to 6% of their power from renewable sources, but the amount can vary by how "renewable" is defined. The Department of Energy says renewable sources like wind and solar account for 2.6%.

The industry contends a federal mandate would be costly to implement and lead to higher bills for consumers. While some companies, such as Florida Power & Light Co., a unit of FPL Group Inc., supported the House proposal, most of the industry, led by trade group the Edison Electric Institute, strongly opposed it.
Concerns are particularly strong among Senate Republicans, who worry some regions of the country -- such as the Southeast, where renewable energy sources aren't widely used -- will have difficulty complying. The Senate bill didn't include a renewables mandate. Inclusion of such a proposal in a final compromise package could erode support among the 20 Republicans who backed the original Senate bill.

"The underlying energy package would be in jeopardy," warned Matt Letourneau, a spokesman for New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The House bill includes a $16 billion tax measure that rolls back existing preferences for oil and gas producers, and boosts incentives for alternative fuels. The Senate was unable to adopt a similar package, amid wide concern among Republicans.

Renewable Sources, Conservation Pushed

By Sholnn Freeman

The House yesterday passed a far-reaching package of energy legislation that would promote conservation and the use of renewable resources at the expense of the country's oil and gas interests.

The bill, which passed 241 to 172, would require more energy efficiency in appliances, buildings and power grids, which proponents of the bills say would reduce carbon dioxide emissions and electricity use. It calls for more energy efficiency measures in the Capitol building. It also would provide grants for studies to promote ethanol pipelines, installation of pumps for 85 percent ethanol fuel at gas stations and production of cellulosic ethanol.

The Democrats also won passage of a provision that would require that 15 percent of electricity from private utilities come from solar, wind or other renewable energy sources. It would be the first such requirement to apply to all the states.

The House last night also passed, 221 to 189, a companion tax package, totaling nearly $16 billion, that targets the oil and gas industry. In a letter to Congress, however, the Bush administration said Friday that the two House measures would result in less domestic oil and gas production. The letter said President Bush's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bills.

Since taking control of Congress last year, the Democrats have identified the reordering of the nation's energy priorities as an important goal that would position their party as the principal advocates for environmentally friendly policies.

"This is the historic break with the fossil-fuel past and the beginning of the solar wind renewable era in the United States," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. "People will look back at this as the turning point where Congress began to embrace renewable energy."

However, the energy bill omitted several proposals, including other mandates for renewable energy, incentives for coal-to-liquid production and a tougher vehicle fuel-economy standard contained in a Senate package that was passed in June. They could be taken up later this year, when the House and Senate reconcile their energy bills, or in a possible bill on global warming.

"There are many things that will put the strength of the federal government behind energy conservation and renewable energy," Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said of the House legislation. "This bill is some of the low-hanging fruit -- the issues that we can agree upon across regions. This is a warm-up for us to tackle those tougher issues."

Republicans pilloried the bill for ignoring ways to boost the nation's traditional energy supplies -- labeling it the Democrats' "energy scarcity bill." Republicans challenged Democrats for doing nothing to promote nuclear power, coal-to-liquid plants or new oil offshore drilling in federal waters.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) launched a drive for a new energy bill in January, but Democrats struggled over key issues. The byproduct of 10 committees, the "consensus" energy bill nearly came unraveled in skirmishes over turf and regional conflicts.

Pelosi has had to mollify members from oil- and gas-producing districts by changing provisions on oil royalties and permitting. Democrats also had to contend with opposition to the renewable electricity mandate by lawmakers from Southern states, where officials say they lack the wind or hydropower resources to meet those standards.

Earlier in the week, Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), the lead sponsor of the provision, lowered the mandate from 20 to 15 percent, broadening support for the measure. Later in negotiations, supporters made another change allowing states to achieve up to 4 percent of the new mandate through efficiency. The provision passed as an amendment to the energy bill by a vote of 220 to 190.

The House energy bill left out vehicle fuel economy increases included in the Senate bill, in the face of heavy opposition from auto lobbyists, the United Auto Workers and Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.).
Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wants to make auto fuel usage part of a broad climate change bill later in the year.

Throughout the year, Dingell squared off with Markey, a principal supporter of higher fuel economy standards. With that fight moving to a conference committee, Markey said yesterday that he wants a seat at that table.

Photo
 

---

---

 
Media Contact Information

Washington, D.C. Office

Kristofer Einsela

Deputy Chief of Staff/ Communications Director

Phone: 202-225-4431

Fax: 202-225-5657

Email: kristofer.einsela@mail.house.gov

Denver, CO Office
Drea Hallen

Communications Associate

Senior Congressional Aide

Phone: 303-844-4988

Fax: 303-844-4996

Email: drea.hallen@mail.house.gov