Phil Schiliro

Special Adviser to the President (since January 2011)

(Robert A. Reeder/TWP)

Why He Matters

After more than 25 years as a congressional aide, Schiliro wound up on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, where he played pointman in pushing Congress to enact Barack Obama's legislative agenda as director of the Office of Legislative Affairs during one of the most productive Congresses ever (2009 stimulus, 2010 health-care reform, 2010 financial regulatory reform).

With those major feathers in his cap, Schiliro announced his intention to leave the White House in early 2011, but stayed on for a short period as a special adviser to the president to ease the transition. His replacement at OLA was former Office of Management and Budget deputy Rob Nabors.

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Corrections?

Background

At a Glance

Career History: Former Director of Legislative Affairs (January 2009-January 2011); Congressional Liaison for Barack Obama's presidential campaign (July 2008 to November 2008); Democratic chief of staff for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (2005 to 2008 and 1997 to 2004); Policy Director for Sen. Tom Daschle (2004); Administrative Assistant to Rep. Henry A. Waxman (1982 to 1997)
Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Alma Mater: Hofstra University; Lewis & Clark Law School, J.D., 1981
Web site

Path to Power

Schiliro was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduated from Hofstra University. As an environmentalist teenager, he organized his neighbors against a business that was polluting a reservoir near his home. He got the media involved and helped shut down the company. He then spent the next quarter century fighting similar battles.

After graduating from Lewis & Clark Law School in Oregon in 1981, Schiliro moved to Washington, D.C., in order to work on environmental issues. He worked briefly for then-Reps. Butler Derrick (D-S.C.) and Tim Wirth (D-Colo.) before joining the staff of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who was then chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health and Environment.

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The Issues

Environmental protection has been a longtime passion of Schiliro's, dating back to his work as a New York teenager.

Waxman first noticed Schiliro while the staffer was fighting for the survival of the Clean Air Act in the 1980s and has called Schiliro a strong force behind the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1990, which let the EPA set the levels of pollutants allowed in the atmosphere and permitted companies to bank and trade emissions. Schiliro also helped investigate the threat of pesticide residue in foods, and he said at the start of the 110th Congress that he intended to focus on "whether the [Bush] administration has been distorting and suppressing the science of global warming."

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Investigations

Waxman, with Schiliro at his side, took a starring role on the House Oversight panel. For much of the last decade, their hands were tied by their minority status, but Waxman's team still issued reports on global warming, intelligence in Iraq and the levels of formaldehyde found in federal trailers given to Gulf Coast residents following the hurricanes in 2005.

After taking over as Oversight chairman in 2007, Waxman had subpoena power and used to it to aggressively challenge a wide array of Bush administration officials and programs.

Less than three months after assuming the chairmanship in 2007, Waxman held hearings investigating the Defense Department's awarding of Iraq contracts. The hearings led the Pentagon to withhold $20 million from military contractor Halliburton after Waxman's committee found the company wrongly charged taxpayers for subcontracted work. The committee also investigated the security contractor Blackwater USA for 195 "escalation of force" incidents.

Schiliro also played a large role in the high-profile investigation of Major League Baseball for steroid use by its players. Schiliro, an avid baseball fan, convinced Waxman to act after concluding that MLB wasn't taking seriously enough the increasingly common allegations of steroids use. Schiliro said he was worried that continued steroids use would convince young athletes to use drugs too, and Waxman claimed that partially because of Schiliro, there has been a change in attitude toward steroid use in all sports.

Financial Bailout and Stimulus Package

During the 2008 race, Obama dispatched Schiliro to talk with House Democrats who were skeptical about the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. Then, just a month after Obama's election, Schiliro found himself on the Hill trying to convince members of Congress to support a $20 billion loan for the "Big Three" American car companies. Schiliro unsuccessfully tried to get lawmakers to stay in Washington until they reached a deal.

But Schiliro was back to work explaining Obama's proposed $800 billion economic stimulus package to congressional staffers.

The Network

Schiliro's closest political allies are Rep. Waxman, the former chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Phil Barnett, the staff director for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee under Waxman. Schiliro worked for Waxman for 25 years, and their friendship will likely prove invaluable for Obama, who, like Waxman, would like to use his first term to improve the country's green energy infrastructure. Waxman is now in a position to help make that happen.

Schiliro also worked with former Sen. Tom Daschle for a year on the Hill.

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