David Schweikert: “I may have a slightly different experience. Bill was my senior Democrat for my subcommittee. You actually could not stop…”

“I may have a slightly different experience. Bill was my senior Democrat for my subcommittee. You actually could not stop yourself from at least liking him because he was just brutally honest with you. He would say: David, I really think that is stupid, or on occasion, which was actually joyful: David, we can make that work. Why this is important is so, often particularly in the Ways and Means Committee, which I still believe is culturally a unique committee--you know, we are tough on each other, but I think actually we are sort of intellectually fair. A number of the oversight hearings we have had even this year, they weren't adversarial. Something that is important that I want to make sure I say before I ramble on too much, Bill's staff really should get some special kudos because even when you could tell he wasn't feeling well, when he was sort of in angst, his staff did a remarkable job of keeping an eye out on him, keeping him ready to go because you always knew, no matter what you said, he had an answer to it. It was really a neat experience, as this is the first time I have chaired something in Ways and Means, to have my counterpart be someone with that history who was tough as nails on me. When he thought I was doing something fair for working men and women, he was all in with me. He wanted to move forward. When he wasn't happy with it, yes, he would beat the crap out of you.…”