On the recordOctober 27, 2015
Well, I am not only going to miss Speaker John Boehner, but I am going to miss when I leave next year the Congress that John Boehner and I have loved so much. If Republicans think that they had a problem with John Boehner, they should have known Jack Kemp because it was Jack Kemp who introduced me to John Boehner. And at that time, we acknowledged that there were Democrats and Republicans, but the whole idea that you could be vindictive enough to attempt to destroy someone politically or not work together as John did with George Miller in bringing Leave No Child Behind--the work that I have done on Ways and Means with trade and was so open in dealing with John, who represented, not an ideology, but represented what he thought was best for the country. To me, John Boehner was, as so many people have said, just a regular guy, the first one in his family, like so many of us, that went to college. He entered public service and through a variety of things became the Speaker of the House, which has to be just one of the greatest sense of pride that any American could ever have. The whole idea that there were people in this partisan time that would believe that they would want him to leave even more than Democrats would want him to leave is something that would have to be explained by history. Of course, things are strange today. There is a Black doctor brain surgeon who is now leading for President for the Republican Party.…





