If Democrats control the House next year, will oversight be a more practical tool than legislation?
Waxman: Even with a narrow majority, oversight can bring about support on a bipartisan basis for certain positions. It can bring more of a public focus to certain issues. I will give you an example. When [the first] President Bush was in office, he issued an executive order banning any research using fetal-cell transplants, which resulted from abortions. Despite the unanimous decision of a National Institutes of Health panel, he stopped it. Well, we held hearings to have a spotlight on this, and we ended up with overwhelming bipartisan support to resume the research. We had legislation that President Bush vetoed. We were successful in getting an override in the Senate but not in the House. When President Clinton came into office, we passed the legislation and he signed it, allowing the research to go forward. That was a situation where I could call a hearing, set that agenda item, call public attention to it, and get another perspective out. NJ: What have been your most successful over
