Henry Waxman Calls It Quits

California Rep. Henry Waxman will not run for re-election, he announced today, ending a House career that began way back in 1975. "Forty years have gone by very quickly," the LA Democrat tells the Washington Post. "I have a great deal of satisfaction with our legislative accomplishments. There's obviously more to be done, but I'm in good health, and my family is in good health. This is a good time to move on."

Waxman, 74, has been a driving force behind a host of landmark legislation, including the Clean Air Act and the Affordable Care Act. He also earned a reputation for his zealous investigations as House Oversight Chair, including hearings about tobacco industry marketing, steroids in sports, and the financial crisis. Fellow Californian George Miller—the only other remaining Democratic member elected in 1974, who is also retiring—once joked that Waxman's first name was "sonuvabitch," because legislators "kept asking, 'Do you know what that sonuvabitch Waxman wants now?'" the LA Times recalls. (More Henry Waxman stories.)