[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   IN REMEMBRANCE OF J.J. JAKE PICKLE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 12, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, my dear friend, Jake Pickle, has left us but 
he will be remembered for both his accomplishments as a great 
Congressman and his ability to make everyone laugh.
  He was a special man--a man who prided himself in his sense of 
justice and a man who could tell a ``hell of a good story.''
  Jake Pickle and I joined the Ways and Means Committee together in the 
94th Congress. It was after Rep. Helstoski was defeated in the next 
election, that I got the privilege of sitting next to Jake for the 
remainder of his career in the House of Representatives. What an 
experience it was.
  He squeaked green plastic pickles at me (from deep in his pocket) and 
taught me how to de-shell two pecans with one hand and a single squeeze 
(and then eat them and throw the hulls under our desks with no one 
knowing). Over time, we became a team and sent juicy pecans to Members 
sitting down the row from us. Jake always thought that ``everyone 
should have a little something in their tummies to do good work.''
  Jake Pickle and I became close personal friends over the years (as 
did our wives, Beryl and Alma). We could not have come from more 
different backgrounds--the inner-city of New York and the rolling hills 
of Texas. Yet, he became one of the Members I respected most for his 
sheer determination, unending zeal, and ability to truly develop 
bipartisan relationships.
  J.J. Pickle served in the Congress for 31 years representing the 
Texas 10th Congressional District--from December 1963-January 1995. All 
agree that Jake was a class act, a star, and someone to love because he 
loved back.
  I am one of the special few who signed his red pump organ--a treasure 
of his that he took home with him to Austin upon retirement and kept in 
his house. Signing the organ meant that you meant something to him.
  J.J. Pickle was very, very proud of his Congressional record. He 
would be the first to tell you that he did not seek to be famous, to be 
a Senator, to be Governor, or to be President. What Jake Pickle wanted 
to be was ``The Darn Best Congressman'' for his Congressional District 
and even a better one for his country. That he was, and more.
  Jake became Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee's Social 
Security Subcommittee in the early 1980s and led the charge for solving 
the system's financial problems. (It is too bad he is not with us now 
to do it again--on a bipartisan basis and in a prudent way.) The 
picture of Pickle standing next to President Reagan signing the 
``Social Security Amendments of 1983'' is a classic of the decade.
  Jake moved on and became Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee's 
Oversight Subcommittee for 10 years. One of his proudest 
accomplishments was reforming the tax code penalties so that they were 
fair to taxpayers. His face adorned the cover of a major tax 
publication titled, ``Congress At Its Best.''
  Pickle was relentless in many ways. Once he drafted a ``Taxpayer Bill 
of Rights;'' it was his personal goal to see it enacted into law--and 
it was.
  Once he learned that some TV evangelists were stealing from the 
public, it was his personal goal that they visit the Committee and 
change--and they did.
  Once he learned that tax-exempt organizations were being used as 
fronts for illegal activities; it was his goal that the Justice 
Department intervene--and they did.
  Once he learned that workers' pension plans were not funded properly; 
it was his goal to change the law to protect retirees--and he 
succeeded.
  Even to the end, he was counseling us (Members and staff) about the 
issues Congress needed to ``get a rope around and move it.''
  So I will close with the following: I missed Jake when he retired 
from Congress in 1995. But now I miss him more. He was a good man and 
he will not be forgotten.

                          ____________________