On the recordOctober 27, 2015
What a journey. What a journey. It is a journey that I got to join after I was elected to the House in November of 2000. My first real interaction with you, Mr. Speaker, you might remember, you were the incoming chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. As freshmen, we were putting together our requests to decide what our top committee assignments would be. Education and the Workforce wasn't one of mine, but apparently it is one of yours, not just for you as chairman but for me as freshman because you came by and you saw my list and said, ``I don't know why you are doing that. You are going to be on the Education and the Workforce Committee.'' I said, ``No, I am not.'' Yes, I was and, yes, I did. And it was an unbelievable experience. It was one which I did not expect. And as Chairman Rangel said, it was one that made history with George Miller and the late Senator Ted Kennedy and President George W. Bush. It wouldn't have happened without the leadership of then-Chairman Boehner. Boy, could he run a committee. It was really his forte, and most Americans don't even know what a great committee chairman he was. He was a committee chairman's chairman, quite frankly. He, as leader, as Speaker, will go down in history as one who cherished that process. That process was not always what he liked or what he wanted, but he sure understood it, he sure respected it, and he sure loved it. As Mr. Rangel knows, he was sure good at it in a bipartisan way.…
