Looks like the bond between our Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., has grown even stronger.

Waxman, you'll recall, was chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the panel Welch served on during the last session.

Now we hear that Welch will be joining the House Energy and Commerce Committee for the coming session, two months after he helped round up the votes that wrested chairmanship of that committee from longtime Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., and gave it to Waxman.

The committee is one of the top five panels in the House and is bound to be in the middle of debates on climate change and other big Obama agenda items.

Don't know if this means Welch is off House Oversight, but we hear it does mean Welch will no longer be on House Rules.

-- Sam Hemingway