Murtha and Waxman begin hiring investigators

• Henry Waxman - House Government Reform Committee Chairman
• John Murtha - House Defense Appropriations Committee Chairman
• John Conyers - House Judiciary Committee Chairman

Above are three individuals to watch very closely over the next two years.  As chairman of three very important House committees, they are promising investigations into Administration mismanagement and encourage a new direction.  Two of the three -- Waxman and Murtha -- are so serious about issuing subpoenas that they have reportedly begun hiring a team of investigators:

Evidence continues to mount that the new Democratic majority plans toinvestigate the war, energy policy, and other Bush policies, as keycommittees have begun hiring lawyer-investigators whose job will be toprobe the administration. In the House, for example, the AppropriationsCommittee under Rep. John Murtha's direction is hiring investigators who will be charged with looking intothe administration's war policies and spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.Also, Rep. Henry Waxman,the incoming chairman of the House Government Reform Committee who'sbeen dogging the vice president's energy task force, is also hiringlawyers. A Democratic leadership official said that the plannedhearings and investigations into the war and other issues thelawyer-investigators are being hired to look into will be "veryfocused." In the Senate, officials said similar hirings were underwayin a speeded up effort to have people in place for the start of the newCongress, especially the planned early January hearings into the warand military spending that are set to begin January 8.

The Democrats are set to take the gavel on January 4th.  Instead of adjourning until after the President's State of the Union Address later that month like in previous years, this Congress will get to work immediately.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning to pass a series of bills in the first 100 hours.