[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 24, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ARTICLE ON REPRESENTATIVE MATSUI

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 23, 2002

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call your attention to the 
attached article on Rep. Matsui featured in the Monday, July 22, 2002 
edition of Roll Call entitled: Bob Matsui: the Democrats' Balancing 
Act.
  Rep. Matsui has been an outstanding and exemplary Member of the 
United States House of Representatives for 24 years. On the Ways and 
Means Committee, which I am privileged to serve as Ranking Democrat, 
Mr. Matsui has been a stalwart protector of Social Security and a 
champion of expanding free and fair trade. It is with pleasure and 
pride that I ask that this article, which profiles his unwavering 
commitment and service to the committee, this august body, and the 
American people be included in the Congressional Record.

                Bob Matsui: The Democrats' Balancing Act

                           (By Ben Pershing)


                    Roll Call--July 22, 2002 Monday

       Try to get Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.) to talk politics. 
     You won't get very far.
       After 24 years in Congress, he's no stranger to polls and 
     tactics, and he's happy to explain why Democrats are better 
     than Republicans. But he'd really rather talk about policy, 
     which is why the current uproar over accounting practices and 
     corporate governance suits him so well.
       On an issue in which the politics are all about policy and 
     reporters are writing breathless front-page stories about 
     off-balance sheet partnerships, wonks can be weapons. And 
     that's where Matsui comes in. As a senior member of the Ways 
     and Means Committee, Matsui, who currently serves as ranking 
     member on the panel's subcommittee on Social Security, has 
     had to spend the past several years playing defense. He's 
     expended most of his energy trying to combat Republican 
     proposals, with little opportunity to advance his own.
       But as he sees it, the current climate gives Democrats a 
     chance to attack. And he doesn't think there is much the GOP 
     can do about it.
       ``To some extent--and this is my belief,'' Matsui said in 
     an interview last week, ``They are somewhat immobilized 
     because they've received so much help from corporate America 
     they really can't take them on in an effective way.''


                             An Opportunity

       Democrats have certainly received plenty of corporate 
     contributions themselves and have also played a role in 
     blocking reforms in the past. But Matsui thinks charges that 
     Republicans are in bed with big business fit neatly into a 
     long-established Democratic storyline, meaning GOP efforts to 
     fight back will fall on deaf ears.
       ``Just like the public knows that the Democrats are better 
     on Social Security and Medicare and the Republicans have 
     historically been better on defense, they know that 
     Republicans are beholden to the business community,'' Matsui 
     said. ``Republicans can't change that, and for them to try to 
     deny that would almost be counterintuitive.''
       Matsui is part of a group of more than two dozen senior 
     Democratic lawmakers--dubbed the ``extended leadership''--who 
     meet in Minority Leader Richard Gephardt's (D-Mo.) office 
     every day at 5 p.m. when the House is in session. Lately, 
     ``business-gate'' has been a prime topic of discussion.
       Democrats see the business scandals as a way to segue into 
     their other top campaign issues--prescription drugs and, 
     especially, Social Security. The Democratic Congressional 
     Campaign Committee sends out daily press releases accusing 
     GOP lawmakers of ``breaking the trust,'' and now Democrats 
     charge that Republican plans for Social Security reform will 
     take money promised to seniors and give it to those same 
     scheming Wall Street brokers.
       When House and Senate Democrats held a press conference 
     July 12 to hit the GOP on corporate issues, Matsui's 
     contention that ``Republicans have a secret plan to privatize 
     Social Security'' was CNN's sound bite of the night.
       Aside from pointing out that much of the corporate 
     malfeasance now being spotlighted happened during the Clinton 
     administration, Republicans also hope that the Democrats may 
     go too far and paint themselves as the anti-business party.
       Matsui is not particularly worried about a backlash because 
     he is 100 percent convinced of the efficacy of Democratic 
     policies.
       ``I think the business community knows that the Democratic 
     Party has been essentially responsible for the growth in the 
     economy in the last 50 years,'' Matsui said, echoing the 
     common Democratic refrain that the current economic downturn 
     coincided with the Republicans moving back into the White 
     House.


                           Man in the Middle

       Democrats believe it makes sense to deploy Matsui on the 
     corporate scandals because he is seen as a relative voice of 
     reason on the Ways and Means minority roster.
       ``He doesn't have a long list of sort of knee-jerk, anti-
     business stuff,'' said a senior Gephardt aide, arguing that 
     Matsui's relatively moderate record on economic issues lends 
     him added credibility.
       Matsui is by no means the only--or even the most 
     prominent--member of Ways and Means to focus on this topic. 
     With Gephardt and ranking member Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) 
     coordinating, committee Democrats such as Reps. Richard Neal 
     (Mass.), Sander Levin (Mich.), Jim McDermott (Wash.) and 
     Lloyd Doggett (Texas) have all carved out their niches.
       Matsui's specialties are Social Security and trade, though 
     he is comfortable with just about everything in Ways and 
     Means' broad portfolio.
       ``He knows the subject well, but he also knows how to place 
     it in a larger context,'' said Levin. ``He knows the forest 
     and the trees.''
       In terms of style, Matsui sits on the Ways and Means 
     median. He gets less attention than Rangel, the party's 
     political standard-bearer on the panel, and he is not as 
     liberal as Rep. Pete Stark (D-Callf.), who is just ahead of 
     Matsui and behind Rangel on the seniority list. But Matsui is 
     also less inclined to cut deals with the GOP than someone 
     like Rep. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.).
       ``You look at those three, he always seems to play the 
     middle,'' an aide to a GOP Ways and Means member said of 
     Matsui vis-a-vis Rangel and Stark. ``You always have Matsui 
     trying to sound like the voice of reason among those three.''
       But the aide cautioned that, while Matsui is pragmatic and 
     relatively easy for Republicans to deal with, ``don't let 
     that fool you, He's very partisan.''
       ``There's something in between being low-key and being a 
     table thumper,'' suggested Levin. ``He's in the middle.''
       Matsui's most prominent policy role in the past several 
     years has been on trade promotion authority, also known as 
     fast-track. An avowed free-trader, Matsui whipped his fellow 
     Democrats to support fast-track in 1993 and 1997, and he 
     backed permanent normal trade relations with China in 2000.
       But Matsui doesn't support the current version of trade 
     promotion authority, arguing that it may give the World Trade 
     Organization the power to undermine American domestic laws. 
     The bill passed the House last December by just one vote, 
     with only 21 Democrats voting in favor.
       Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) worked very closely with Matsui on 
     trade issues in the past when the two lawmakers were on the 
     same side of the fight. But Matsui's more recent stances on 
     trade bills have meant that, on a professional level, ``that 
     relationship has become somewhat strained,'' said Kolbe, 
     hastening to add that he still likes and respects Matsui 
     personally.
       ``We miss him a lot on the trade issues. I wish we could 
     get him back.''


                                Ambition

       With 12 terms in the House under his belt and a decent 
     record of achievement, the 60-year-old Matsui could look to 
     expand his horizons.
       But, having been in the minority now for eight years, 
     Matsui doesn't aspire to elected leadership and says his 
     biggest goal is simply to become chairman of the Ways and 
     Means subcommittee on Social Security.
       Matsui is loyal to Rangel and won't even entertain a 
     question about whether he would like to become Ways and 
     Means' leading Democrat if the New Yorker leaves the House 
     before he does (and there's no indication that Rangel is 
     going anywhere in the near future).
       Yet it's hard to imagine that Matsui wouldn't want the job 
     given his love for the committee's work. And with Stark's 
     well-documented history of outlandish remarks and 
     unpredictable behavior, it appears unlikely that Democrats 
     would ever hand him the top job on a major committee.
       ``I don't think there's any question that if Rangel leaves 
     Matsui is the natural next candidate'' to run Ways and Means, 
     said a senior Democratic leadership aide.
       On the political front, Matsui has toyed with running for 
     governor or the Senate in the past, but he points out now 
     that the best way to run statewide in California is to shoot 
     first for a position such as lieutenant governor, a job that 
     he sees as far less attractive than his current post in the 
     House.
       Matsui also did stints as treasurer and deputy chairman of 
     the Democratic National Committee in the '90s, and his wife, 
     Doris, worked in the Clinton White House. But he'd still 
     rather focus on substance.
       ``I enjoy the mechanics. When we had the trade issues and I 
     was whipping it on behalf of the Clinton administration, I 
     enjoyed that,'' he recalled. ``On the other hand, I really 
     enjoy policy. It is my strength.''





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