Healthcare and Welfare

Social Security:: International Trade:: Healthcare/ Wealthfare Reform:: Tax Reform

As the ranking member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources in 1993 he helped secure $1 billion for programs created to prevent child abuse and neglect.

Fighting for Children's Health. Representative Matsui believed that America owed to all citizens to provide basic freedom and opportunities, and to show leadership on these issues in the world. The first two bills he introduced in Congress sought to strengthen enforcement of child support payments. He especially believed that all children in the United States should have absolute access to health care, and he drafted legislation in 1991 that became the backbone for child welfare reform, proposing to expand the social services available to at-risk children and families in the child welfare, mental health, and juvenile justice systems. In 1994, Matsui was a leader in the fight over welfare changes, arguing that adequate job training and education programs were essential to helping parents achieve financial self sufficiency without hurting the Nation's disadvantaged children. In 1997, he worked with a bipartisan team of congressional leaders to introduce a bill to provide health care coverage to uninsured children, the CHILD ACT. This bill became the basis of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a groundbreaking effort that has made significant progress in providing low-income children with health insurance. Matsui believed the best way to invest in America's future was to ensure the health, education, and opportunities of new generations.