With the untimely death of Bob Matsui, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair, 13-term Congressman from Sacramento, and third-ranking Democrat on the influential House Committee on Ways and Means, a huge, gaping void has been created in the bulwark Democrats have been attempting to erect to defend against the coming onslaught from the Bush administration concerning the privatization of Social Security.
Bob Matsui was not only chairman of the DCCC; he was also chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means. He would have been our point man in the House on the issue. And he was perfectly prepared to be that point man. Matsui was probably more knowledgeable than any other Democrat in the House on the subject; he was well-respected among his peers on both sides of the aisle despite the fact that he was a fighter and would never have wavered on the issue. He was just the guy we needed.
The void is even more gaping when one realizes that three of the four other Democrats on the subcommittee are in the bottom third of the order of seniority on the full Committee. And the fourth member, Ben Cardin of Maryland, represents an affluent, largely suburban and exurban district which contains many members of what might be called the "investor class." Cardin's constituents might actually believe that they would be benefitted by Social Security privatization.
Matsui's death occurred two days before the opening of the 109th Congress. With the opening of the new Congress will come some reshuffling in the membership of the various committees, so from this perspective, though he died much too early, the timing of his death vis-a-vis the Congressional schedule still leaves an opportunity to change the composition of the Social Security Subcommittee. The leadership of both parties will shortly be putting forth the membership lists for the various committees and subcommittees for this Congress. There is only one man for the job.
Charlie Rangel should be appointed to the vacancy left by Bob Matsui on the Social Security Subcommittee forthwith.
Rangel is already the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. He is a tireless fighter for progressive causes and possesses the sharp mind, even sharper tongue, quick wit, and limitless knowledge of all of the matters that come in front of the Committee that is requisite to lead our battle in the House of Representatives. He has the right sense of outrage and the endless respect of his peers on the minority side, and because he is so articulate and persuasive in front of a camera, even the Republicans are afraid of him.
Here's the remaining existing membership of the Subcommittee:
Benjamin L. Cardin, MD
Earl Pomeroy, ND
Xavier Becerra, CA
Stephanie Tubbs Jones, OH
Cardin, I wouldn't completely count out. As I noted above, he's from a mostly suburban district, though, and a lot of his constituents are in the "investor class" that might favor some privatization. He's also known for his bipartisanship.
Pomeroy is pretty darn near a DINO, and the only good thing I can say about him is that it's better to have him in North Dakota's lone House seat than a REAL Republican, so that at least there's one more vote for Nancy Pelosi.
Becerra is young and represents a district that is completely within the City of Los Angeles--including much of East LA. He's an up and comer and may well be an asset on Social Security. But he's new and doesn't have much pull in the House.
Tubbs Jones is a liberal and a firebrand. I truly love the woman. She'll be quite an asset in the fight. But she, too, is new, and sadly, in many of the debates that I've seen both in subcommittee and in full committee, she hasn't come off as having really gotten up to speed on the intricacies of a lot of the issues. I think she'll be an excellent second chair to whomever we can get to provide the sense of outrage that we need to have present on the subcommittee. I think that "whomever" should be Rangel.
Ways and Means members are limited to membership on two subcommittees, and Rangel is currently on the Trade and Human Resources Subcommittees. Human Resources is clearly the less important of the two, and Rangel is extremely effective at speaking to the negative effects on working Americans of many of the free trade agreements that come through the Trade Subcommittee. Rangel should be switched from the Human Resources Subcommittee to the vacancy on the Social Security Subcommittee left by Matsui's untimely death, and the new Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee should take Rangel's place on the Human Resources Subcommittee.
Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership in the House should carefully consider all of their options in trying to compensate for the loss of Bob Matsui, a man who fought bravely his entire career to preserve the rights of older Americans to live out their golden years in dignity and free from the scourge of poverty. If they do so, they will realize that Charlie Rangel is the ideal man for the job.