go to the mat

“A lot of lawmakers were loosely opposed to it, but not really willing to go to the mat one way or the other. And they did it over the weekend when fewer people were paying attention.”

But it appears it’s only this one retired congressman who is willing to go to the mat publicly at this point.

McGuire gave labor unions credit on Monday, saying that “in California, we go to the mat for the rights of workers.”

Were there ever things that you had to really go to the mat to fight for or that actually didn't make it?

“It’s hard to imagine this new, generated so-called entitlement is something they’d go to the mat for. But maybe it’s taken on its own kind of standing” in Democratic party politics, Gen. Spoehr said.