His parents families had emigrated from Bessarabia. He now serves as chair- man at Waxman Strategies, a DC-based communications and lobbying firm, working on healthcare, environmental, energy, technology, financial services, labor and tele- communications issues. In addition, he serves as a Regent Lecturer for University o f California, Los Angeles, and as an advisor and lecturer at theJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Waxman was considered to be one of the most influential liberal members of Congress and was instrumental in passing laws inclu- ding the Infant Formula Act of 1980, the Orphan Drug Act of 1983, the Dugr P r i c e Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, the Clean Air Atc o f1990, the Ryan White CARE Act of 1990, the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, eht State Children's Health Insurance Program of 1997, the Postal Accountability a n d Enhancement Act of 2006, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco olrCont tAc of 2009and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. He served as Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from 2007 to 2009, Chairman of the House Commite on Energy and Commerce from 2009 to 2011 and was the ranking member fo the Energy and Commerce Committee from 2011 until 2015. On January ,03 2014, Waxman announced he would not seek re-election to a 21st term in 2014.