At a Glance
Current Position: Republican Staff Director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee
Career History: Republican Staff Director for Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, worked for Chairman/Ranking Member Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-New Mexico) (2007-2008), Committee Staff Director (2006-2007), Majority Counsel (2004-2006)
Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Alma Mater: College of the Holy Cross, B.A. (1998); New York University School of Law, J.D. (2002)
Spouse: Engaged
Committees: Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee
DC Office: U.S. Senate Hart Building
428 Senate Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Why He Matters
As the Republican staff director for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Macchiarola was the chief GOP adviser on the complex health-care bill overhaul approved in July 2010 by the Democratic-majority panel on a party-line vote.
Though in that case, the Republican, who works for ranking minority member Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), opposed the legislation, Macchiarola, who has been both a minority and majority staff director, said it was better to be for something than against it. In the 2010 elections, Republicans gained Senate seats, but will still be in the minority.
“It is important to defeat things that are bad policies, but it is more satisfying in these jobs to be able to be in the role of being able to pass policies that are good for the American people,” Macchiarola said.
“It would be very satisfying for Republicans in Congress to get back to a position where we’re able to pass an agenda of good policies. I’ve worked in both camps, when we’re in the majority and when we’re in the minority and a lot of people say it’s easier to be in the minority, but it is certainly more satisfying and productive to be in the majority.” Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010(1)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010
A former top staffer for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Macchiarola will tackle such issues as renewal of No Child Left Behind, a “narrow” interpretation of the health-care law and a broader investigation, if there is to be one at all, of for-profit schools and student indebtedness.Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010(1)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010
In His Own Words
On the importance of bipartisanship: “When I took over as staff director here in 2009, I think the tone for Republicans was really down. In our view, there really wasn’t an effort on the Democrats part to work with us on any of the major legislative issues that they were considering. You can go into a million different reasons of who’s to blame for it, where did it originate from, all that, but at the end of the day our view was that we were viewed as irrelevant and that they didn’t need to work with Republicans,” Macchiarola said.
“And I think a lot has changed over the two years and I think it probably is a message to both parties that regardless of the numbers of the makeup of the Congress, both parties are important because both parties represent the people… So I think it’s sort of a cautionary tale to us that no matter what the makeup is next year, that we need to work with the other side.” Macchiarola, Frank J. in an interview with Kelly Doherty(2)
Path to Power
A lifelong interest in public policy, government and politics, plus a family legacy made law school the obvious choice for Macchiarola.
“I don’t think I ever thought previously to going to law school whether I was going to practice in a traditional sense or not,” he said. “Everybody in my family except for my mother went to law school so it was just sort of natural. My dad’s a lawyer; my two older brothers are lawyers.”.Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010(1)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010
Although law school was the natural next step for him, Macchiarola said it was much more than he expected.
“There’s obviously a clear connection between the study of law and our government, and I was intrigued with that connection and I think what I got out of law school was something very different,” Macchiarola said. “I think going in I thought it was sort of an extension of my interest in public policy, but what I think I gained from it was something very different – and that is a precision of thought and a precision in the way I write and approach problems.”Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010(1)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010
Capitol Hill Staffer
He dabbled briefly in criminal law and prosecution during an internship at the Brooklyn district attorney’s office and worked in private practice for two years before making the move to Capitol Hill. Working in the Senate, Macchiarola said, was his goal, and the opportunity came in 2004.
He started out working under Republican senator and then-Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, managing a staff of 20. During his tenure, the GOP transitioned to the minority, so Macchiarola got experience as a staff director in both a majority and minority climate.
It was here, working with Domenici, that he saw bipartisanship lead to successful policy.
“When I was at the energy committee in 2005, Sen. Domenici had a pretty big majority at about 55 votes, and we were sitting down to write the energy policy act of 2005, and he sort of almost immediately viewed working with the ranking member as necessary to getting it done.”
“He sat down with the other side, made sure they were involved and went through a bipartisan process that I believe had a majority vote of both parties in both houses on the 2005 bill. He did it again in 2007 when he was ranking member, he worked with Chairman Bingaman on two really major energy bills and they were successes for both sides and they were good policy for both sides, and I think that’s the way good policy is made.“ Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010(1)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010
In 2009, Macchiarola joined the Senate HELP Committee as the Republican staff director under ranking member Enzi. He says he once again witnessed the success of bipartisanship in the “strong working relationship” between Enzi and then-Chairman Ted Kennedy(D-Mass.).
The Issues
The minority staff director at the Senate HELP Committee, Macchiarola’s legislative expertise is in health, education, labor and energy issues, having also spent time as minority and majority staff directoy at the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Health Care
Although the GOP will still be the minority on the HELP panel in the 112th Congress, Macchiarola said there are still some important items on Sen. Enzi and his fellow Republicans’ agenda. He said there will be “significant oversight” on the 2010 health-care reform bill and its implementation. Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010(1)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010
He added that new legislation may stem from the bill as it goes through the implementation stages and assumes real-world affects. He said Enzi is particularly concerned with how the bill will affect small businesses.
Education
Macchiarola said one of the big issues that the Senate will be dealing with in the 112th Congress is the issue of student loans and for-profit schools, which are currently facing intense scrutiny by Congress and proposed new regulations by the Education Department. He said Republicans instead favored examining the issue across all higher-education platforms.
“Senator Enzi has been very vocal on the issue in saying that if you’re going to look at student indebtedness and if you’re going to look at marketing practices of universities and if you’re going to look at issues of tenure for faculty, etc., it should be an open investigation for for-profit schools, for traditional four-year colleges, for community colleges. It should be an across the board investigation. So we believe that the investigation has been unfair in just looking at for-profit schools and their practices in student lending,” he said.Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010(1)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty, November 2010
Macchiarola anticipates negotiations on the No Child Left Behind bill will also be continued when in 2011.
Labor
When it comes to labor issues, Macchiarola said that instead of trying to get legislation passed, Republicans found it important to defeat some items in the 111th Congress, including the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have made it easier to unionize, because they believed they made for bad policy and didn’t help create jobs or stimulate the economy.Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty(3)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty
“It was never brought to a vote and we think that’s a good thing. I think in our view there are a significant number of labor policies advanced by the other side that are really destructive to economic growth and to businesses around the country,” Macchiarola said. “Particularly at this point in time when you have the kind of great recession that we’re going through, and the kind of unemployment that we’re facing, I’m glad that we stood against what we thought were job-killing policies and prevented them from being passed.” Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty(3)Macchiarola, Frank J., in an interview with Kelly Doherty
Energy
Macchiarola helped draft four major bills while working at the Energy Committee: the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006,the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and the America COMPETES Act of 2007.
The Network
Macchiarola has worked for Sen. Mike Enzi (R- Wyo.) and then-Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.).
When he was at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Macchiarola worked with Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and his top aide, Bob Simon.