Upton: Hastings lacks support to ‘steal’ energy jurisdiction

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who is campaigning to lead the House Energy and Commerce Committee, does not believe a proposal to move the panel’s energy jurisdiction to another panel will make it far.

Upton, in an interview that aired Sunday, also compared the proposal to stealing and shoplifting.

Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the incoming chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, launched a bid last week to call the shots on energy policy in the next Congress.

Hastings wants to create a new Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which he argues would create more effective governance and “level the power” between the two panels. But Upton and other Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans say their panel has proven its effectiveness, and are trying to crush the plan.

Asked if Hastings has enough support within the GOP caucus to succeed, Upton replied, “I don’t think that he does.”

“We are hoping to get it stopped. The troops are aroused and we are doing all that we can to kill his proposal,” Upton said in an interview broadcast Sunday on Platts Energy Week.

Upton said Hastings is a “friend,” but accused him of trying to “steal” the Energy and Commerce panel’s energy portfolio, comparing it to shoplifting.

Asked about his claim that it would be stealing, Upton replied, “That is what it is. It is pure and simple.”

He also reiterated that returning Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee say they would vote against any House rules package that handed their jurisdiction to the Natural Resources Committee.

(Hastings makes his case for the proposal here, while the Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans’ opposition is detailed here.)