The Ways and Means Committee just completed the fourth hearing by Chairman Charlie Rangel dealing with income insecurity in America. It started with the problems of 37 million poor Americans, and expanded to deal with issues of healthcare and middle-class stress. For perhaps the first time in history we have the appropriate person at the appropriate time and place to deal with this economic phenomenon that is an intersection of tough demographics, economics, and unfortunate politics. Since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the political equation for poverty and income inequality in America has been dominated by a tendency to “round down” to the detriment of lower income and politically disadvantaged Americans. They've lost, both politically and economically. Now there is a moment in history for that to change: enter Charlie Rangel.

After serving for more than 10 years in Congress, I recently left two committees I love, Foreign Affairs and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committees, to join the House Ways and Means Committee. This storied committee, the only congressional committee called for in the Constitution, has been more of an experience than I ever bargained for. Invariably referred to as the “powerful” Ways and Means committee, it has vast jurisdiction and touches every aspect of American life. Indeed, one of the reasons I made the transition away from more senior positions on committees where I developed expertise is because I felt that the jurisdiction of Ways and Means has so much potential for accomplishment.

One of the highlights is Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-NY). Charlie has been on the Committee since early in his congressional career and his history has true storybook quality: high school dropout, he became a decorated veteran of the Korean War who came back through the GI Bill to put himself on the fast track, graduating from law school and becoming a prosecutor and community activist who ultimately defeated the legendary Adam Clayton Powell, with dignity and respect, when everybody but Powell understood it was time for him to leave.

A Ways and Means Chairman under virtually any circumstance is a hurricane. But when that hurricane is a storm named Charlie, it is truly an amazing experience. He has brought to the committee Harlem street smarts, the sensitivity of somebody who knows what it's like for life to be a little tough, a sense of success, and awe-inspiring smarts and personality. Most poignantly, Charlie has transformed the committee from what was formerly a one-man, partisan and unpleasant show. With ranking member Jim McCrery – a very decent, thoughtful Congressman from Shreveport, Louisiana – the two of them have set a different path and a different tone.

Charlie has already done three things that are profound. He has begun to lead the committee’s work in a positive, bipartisan and thoughtful fashion. Second, he has emphasized a search for information over rushed policy. He has been clear about his concerns about America’s persistent and pervasive problem with poverty. Third, he has undertaken a series of hearings that weave together poverty, healthcare, pressures on the middle class, and economic insecurity in the era of globalization.

This promises to be not just an exciting time for the Ways and Means Committee, but a time for one of the most far reaching and profound discussions on how to reassemble the pieces of the American economy so that everybody's needs are heard and, perhaps, finally addressed.

---

I am indebted to Elizabeth Warren for her invaluable research, insights and assistance to those of us in the Federal Government who want to be better partners for the one-third of Americans who are at economic risk - the 37 million who are struggling to reach the middle class and the other 100 million who are struggling to stay there.