Kevin Brady: “I thank the chairman for bringing the Ways and Means family, as he termed it, together for this important evening. These…”

“I thank the chairman for bringing the Ways and Means family, as he termed it, together for this important evening. These past few days, our country has taken time to reflect on the life and the legacy of John Robert Lewis, from the Edmund Pettus Bridge to Auburn Avenue. Through streets of the South to the rotunda of the United States Capitol, our Nation has come together to celebrate the life of a man who rose to the occasion to fight for the rights of all human beings. A Congressman for the great State of Georgia and an esteemed member of the Ways and Means Committee, John Lewis was a blessing to our institution. It was an honor of a lifetime to sit next to such giants as he, Congressman Sam Johnson, and others who made their way through the Ways and Means Committee in the Longworth House Office Building. I was lucky to not just sit near John in the committee room, but I realized early this session, as I went to look at my old office in the Cannon House Office Building, that John Lewis was serving there, too. That day I had a big smile on my face as I greeted John, and we reminisced a bit about sharing our offices. Madam Speaker, you couldn't help but smile if you ever crossed paths with him. He was one of the better angels of our nature. He was one of our thousand points of light. The man who walked in the wind to bring equality to America now is walking in the heavens with his creator.…”