By: Ryan Grim

With the larger fight for the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee over, with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) emerging the victor, backers of ousted chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) are now scrambling to hold on to their subcommittee chairmanships.

Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Gene Green (D-Texas), who pushed hard for Dingell, are sending out letters to their colleagues asking for support in retaining their subcommittee chairmanships in the next Congress, said Green. Rep. Frank Pallone, Green said, has also sent out a similar letter.

"It’s no secret I was part of John dingell’s whip team," said Green, who said that he had hoped to speak to Waxman today but has yet to do so. "I think there has to be some healing and I would hope that we would see that, because there are a number of us who are very serious legislators."

Green noted that despite opposing his bid for the chair, he’s  "worked with Chairman Waxman on a number of other issues and I would hope to continue it."

If there was a wholesale turnover of subcommittee chairman, said Green, the healing process in the caucus would be that much more difficult and could hamper legislative progress. "If there is [such a turnover] I think that will hurt us and that’s the sad part," said Green.

“I am eager to continue in my role as chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and I am asking my colleagues on the committee for their support," said Stupak in a statement. "I look forward to continuing the important work Chairman Dingell and I began on food and drug safety, FDA reform, security of government laboratories, energy costs, and abuses in our nation’s health care system.”

Patrick O’Connor contributed to this report

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