Charles Rangel: “Lastly, I would like to say, as the distinguished chair moves on to his retirement from this august body, that for as…”

“Lastly, I would like to say, as the distinguished chair moves on to his retirement from this august body, that for as long as the gentleman has been a member of this Ways and Means Committee that I have admired and I continue to respect the fine work that he has contributed to the committee as well as to this House, and that his honesty, candidness, sincerity, and hard work to make this a better Congress and a better country certainly is appreciated now and will be in the future. And I would hope that the hard work that he has done on tax reform-- which is a very difficult, complex subject to deal with--that we might try to remember him for the fine work that he has done over these years, rather than on the eve of an election, where sometimes the leadership would want to make a political statement. I, for one, will never associate him with this piece of legislation, but, rather, for the outstanding contributions that he has made year after year, session after session--not for Republicans, not for the committee, but for this great country. And I thank him for his friendship over the years. I yield back the balance of my time.”