[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H4130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       LOSING THE NO. 1 MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

  (Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, in the Record, I guess my remarks will 
appear last for my dear friend, Sam, who decided to leave the Congress 
and to leave the Committee on Ways and Means. Politically and 
legislatively that puts me as the No. 1 Democrat. But, quite frankly, 
we are losing the No. 1 Committee on Ways and Means member, a person 
that served with Wilbur Mills, a person that has been on the committee 
since 1969 even though he came to the Congress in 1962, one that no one 
challenges has done more to promote U.S. trade with NAFTA and with GATT 
as well as being the lead person with President Johnson on social 
issues.
  We are going to miss Sam because he is the only one on the committee 
that had a sense of institutional memory. And I know one thing, I feel 
a lot more strong knowing that Sam will be there with me in the next 
year whereby every possible poll and every moral reason, the Democrats 
will be in charge of this particular House.
  So Mr. Speaker, we will make certain that the gentleman's leadership 
carries on in the House and try to reverse some of the setbacks that we 
have had in terms of legislation that gentleman has been promoting, and 
I regret that I am last, but I am glad that I got here in time.

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