His own ways, his own means
Bill Thomas is charting an independent course on Social Security
Democrats have been pummeling the president and Republican members of Congress for pushing the idea of revamping Social Security with private investment accounts. That is not a solution, Democrats say, and their argument has put them in an unusual place: ahead. Republicans at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have been on the defensive on the issue. But now that Bill Thomas, the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has joined the fray, he is warning Democrats that he has beat them before and could do it again. "Why am I optimistic? . . . It's because we've had very small [GOP] majorities, and we have been able to move important legislation to the president's desk," says the 63-year-old Republican from California's Central Valley.
It is the unalloyed confidence of a man who has become known for never lacking any. "I think Bill is more sure that he has the answers than his predecessors were," says Rep. Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat who has been on the Ways and Means Committee with Thomas for some 18 years.
Grand schemer. Thomas, now in his 14th term, may be the only person in Washington willing to declare himself optimistic about the miasmal debate on Social Security. But that's important, Capitol veterans say, because the Ways and Means chair is a singular personality with huge influence over the outcome. If President Bush is to sign any Social Security legislation, large or small, this year or next, it will surely bear the mark of Bill Thomas.
But for Thomas, that may not be enough. What he's really shooting for is reform much grander than the president's plan. As he began a series of hearings on the matter last week, Thomas sternly lectured the country about the need to broaden the discussion beyond the solvency of Social Security to address the changing needs of an aging population and the question of how government will pay for those changes. "If we put blinders on at this stage in trying to fix Social Security and not keep at least in our peripheral vision Medicare and Medicaid, we may be able to fix Social Security, but it means we may be jumping from the frying pan into the fire," he says. "There is no long-term-care structure, and we have to begin talking about that."
Even Democrats who oppose Thomas are unwilling to completely count him out. "Bill is very smart, and I wouldn't say that he couldn't pull this off, but I don't think anybody can pull it off," says Washington State Democrat Jim McDermott. Thomas counters with history. He has been the chief author and manager of some of the most contentious legislation to pass the Congress in recent years. In 2001, the House approved a trade promotion bill giving President Bush nonreviewable negotiating authority. It passed by one vote, 215 to 214. Two years later, Thomas was one of the chief architects of a contentious Medicare overhaul that added a prescription drug benefit for seniors. What was supposed to be a 15-minute vote began at 3 a.m. and lasted 2 hours and 51 minutes, infuriating Democrats. For more than an hour, the plan appeared dead, with a 218-to-216 vote against adoption, but the voting stayed open; in the end, Thomas and the GOP prevailed, 220 to 215, after a little arm-twisting during what remains the longest vote in House history.
Democrats say Social Security is different, and they're willing to fight to the death. "It is part of their theology," Thomas says, "but the society has changed behind the program, and it is no longer sustainable. They have to be willing to face up to that." Democrats say that except for the private accounts, Republicans have not been specific about their plans, including Thomas's concept for wholesale review of the federal budget. "I have no idea where he is going with all this stuff," says McDermott.
Whatever Thomas has in mind, there's little question that he will be dogged in advancing it. In recent years he has been described in the press as abrasive, acerbic, irascible, blustery, prickly, imperious, edgy, volatile, and headstrong. "He scares people," says one senior GOP House aide, "but he is a good chairman."
Touch-me-not. Among Thomas's favorite refrains is: "I came here to make law." Not friends, apparently. In 1995, Thomas told the Los Angeles Times: "People say I'm not as touchy-feely as I should be. But I never ran for the job to be touchy-feely."
Born the day before Pearl Harbor in Wallace, Idaho, Thomas is the son of parents who never graduated from high school. He grew up in Orange County and went to San Francisco State University, where he also got a master's degree. He taught political science at Bakersfield College from 1965 to 1974 before being elected to the California Assembly. After two terms in Sacramento, Thomas was elected to Congress in 1978. From the very beginning he built his reputation as a smart, prepared, hardworking legislator, even if he was not the fuzziest kitten in the litter. "He'll work with you if he needs you," says Levin. "If he doesn't need you, he won't."
That overly determined certainty has enraged many a Democrat over the years, but it has also regularly put Thomas at odds with those in his own party. He was close to former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who briefly roomed with Thomas when they both came to Congress in 1979, but Thomas's occasional willingness to cut deals with Democrats caused the two to fall out briefly.
The folks back home have seen several other sides to Thomas. He's been married to his wife, Sharon, for 36 years, and the couple have two grown child-ren. But there has been personal tragedy as well. In 1987, the congressman's parents were on their way to see their son ride in a holiday parade when they collided head-on with another car. Thomas's mother, Gertrude, was killed, and his father was seriously injured. Virgil Thomas lived three more years, never fully recovering.
"He can be a very softhearted and caring individual, and I think that's the way he is seen in his district," says Mark Abernathy, a political consultant who has worked for and with Thomas.
Washington, of course, is different.
Charles Rangel, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, says Thomas is not tough to work with because they don't work together. "It's not difficult at all--we just don't talk," Rangel says. "Since Thomas is talking to no one but himself, the only thing I'm waiting for is for the president to say what he wants. Nothing is going to happen in the House, not even conversation, until the president steps in."
Thomas says the president has already done his job by starting the discussion. Now, Thomas thinks, it's time for him to do his job and write some law. Which means it's time for Democrats to be watchful, indeed.
This story appears in the March 21, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.