[applause] and to now, the chairman of the u. S. Capital Historical Society and a former member of congress from missouri will offer a toast to the committee and then we will have dinner. Before i offer the toast this evening, i want to give a brief history, a very brief history, of the committee. But i want to step set the record straight first. Jim was not only the ranking member, but he was chairman of this committee. [applause] it was 226 years ago and 10 days from now that this committee was created in 1789. Its responsibility is for a clear, to raise money to pay for the government. The newly signed constitution, as we all have studied, declare that all laws to raise revenue must originate here in the house of representatives. For the first two months, that is exactly what happened. The committee drafted and considered bills to impose tariffs and taxes. But a turf battle arose. A magic, a turf battle in washington. That is unheard of. This one arose between the committee and the secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton won that battle. The committee was disbanded. Thereafter, hamilton himself drafted the bills and submitted them directly to the whole house of representatives by passing the entire committee system. Congress would not reassert his authority, as it should have, until after six years when he vacated the office of secretary of treasury and the white house developed a new relationship with congress. The ways and Means Committee was then reestablished in 1795. As we know, that uneasy equilibrium between congress and its exercising of its constitutional powers to raise revenue and the executive brands exercising the authority to collect and disburse the money continues to this day. From 1795 to the 1860s, the committee was the center of power in the house. In addition to revenue, it had jurisdiction over appropriations and banking. The chairman was, in fact, the de facto leader of the house. The Committee Room was located right next to the House Chamber where boggscongressional womens reading room is now located. Now, i dont wish to single out any former chairman, but lets face it, some modern era chairman have been noted for some of their idiosyncrasies. But not come closer to an early chairman, John Randolph, of virginia, who took the house floor in his attire of riding boots and accompanied by his hunting dogs. It was not clear whether the dogs were trained to hunt down members of congress or scare of the opposition. In 1865, their responsibilities were taken over by new committees. Of course, there was objection by the then current chairman of the ways and Means Committee. He claimed taxes and spending to be controlled by the same committee, quote, in order that they make me both ends meet. End quote. From tariffs to taxes, from raising revenue to reducing deficits, trade and Social Security is, under public compensation, disability insurance, and providing the funding for our nations highways and infrastructure are some of the issues now facing the committee. As ron said, distinguished leaders have served on this committee and gone on to higher positions. Bush 41 and seven others were not to become president. Eight members became vice president. 21 became speakers of the house. And four served as justices on the supreme court. Perhaps this will continue. Today, without question, the ways and Means Committee is one of the most powerful committees in the house and serving on the committee is indeed a prestigious assignment. Please join me and rise, to toast this committee. Heres to the house ways and Means Committee for safeguarding the constitutional requirement that all bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives, the chamber closest to the people. For confronting complex financial, economic, and International Trade issues affecting our nation and the world. For addressing with compassion the challenges facing older americans, the disabled, children, and those in the. In need. And finally, to the members for serving with extraordinary dedication and commitment. Here, here. Thank you, you may be seated. Enjoy the dinner. [indistinct chatter] [indistinct chatter] ladies and gentlemen, we are going to begin our program. We are going to start the program. And one of the one of the special features of this dinner, of course, is this senate. The elegant newly refurbished Committee Hearing room. It is really very well done. Thank you to the committee for opening this room and the library for us this evening. It is now my pleasure to introduce the chairman of the ways and Means Committee. Congressman paul ryan represents the First District of wisconsin. He has been a member of Congress Since 1999. As a member, paul quickly gained respect for his expertise in the budget process. He was chairman of the Budget Committee before being elected chairman of ways and Means Committee. Under his leadership, ways and Means Committee recently passed major trade legislation that was just signed into law. Congratulations again on this major accomplishment. [applause] as a diversion from his responsibilities on the hill, paul enjoys a variety of sports such as fishing, hunting with bow and arrow that is impressive and running marathons. He also makes his own bratwurst and polish sausage. Now, that is very impressive. Paul and his wife has three children. Ladies and gentlemen, these welcome the chairman, paul ryan. [applause] mr. Ryan thank you. Welcome, everybody. You know, i think the last time we did in event like this, if im not mistaking, was bill thomas hosted this dinner here in 2006. So it is not very often that we do this. So for those of us on the committee, it is a real treat to be able to do this. Ron, tom, thank you very much for doing this. Appreciate all your kind words. I want to thank the Historical Society for hosting us here. I also want to thank Cokie Roberts for being here. You spend part of your childhood in this room. Your dad was on this committee. And sandy 11, i look for to hearing from you. The past chairman just look around this room. A lot of us spend time here. We see the portrait. The past chairman of this committee, they are legends in their own rights. Wilbur mills, oscar underwood, no relation to frank underwood, for the record. [laughter] mr. Ryan to be honest, it is such a distinguished list that is intimidating for a guy with two first names. I try to relate to these predecessors by looking for similarities of things we share in common. The most striking was and lets is John Randolph. He was tall, lean. He had hunting dogs, i have hunting dogs. And he looks really young for his age. [laughter] mr. Ryan my staff, on the other hand, picked to stevens. He was the youngest of four children, a republican, and he liked to wear large, ill fitting suits your suits. [laughter] mr. Ryan but the chairman who had the biggest effect on me are the chairman who are sitting here in this room tonight. Bill thomas, bill archer, dave camp. Charlie wrangle. And i cannot leave this out, a person who was our fantastic ranking member, jim mccrary. It is great to see you guys. [applause] mr. Ryan i was a young guy, i came here when i was 28. I aspire to be on this committee. People told me, no chance. Ended up getting on here and just looked at the people who were in the fast lane, the people who knew how to get things done, and and it is these gentleman right here that taught me so much. And i just had this amazing flashback today. In this particular case, if you are here in the room, this is a newly redecorated room. We were in other committees until april 15 of this year. And chairman thomas said presided over wii during over redoing the room to historical accuracy, but the committee here served as the alternative for the house floor. On the house the audio system had to be redesigned in order to accommodate putting 435 members of congress in here and all the rest. So we headed to a big overhaul of this thing, and during that overhaul, things got changed. The curtains are different, the carpet is different. And i would like to let you, bill, no, and anybody else who has complaints, concerns, problems about this to email those to davecamp at the private sector dot com, as he is the one who made all those decisions. [laughter] so, let me get serious for a moment. Whatever the superficial similarities about all of us, about the 10 years we have had here, when every chairman, when every member of this committee shares is a love of public policy. And we are in the right place in this committee. The way i see it, it is a Mission Control of congress. This is where the Big Decisions about where this country will go are being made. The things we do here, the jurisdiction we have, the laws we write, they have a huge impact on peoples lives. Social security, medicare, welfare, trade, taxes, health care. This is why both parties, both parties, put their best members on this committee. The most knowledgeable, the most passionate, and the hardest working people in congress on this committee, republicans and democrats. [applause] mr. Ryan the people on this committee came here not to be someone, but to do something. Ways and Means Committee, we are fears, we are doers. You might be wondering why all this fuss over a committee. Will rogers once said, outside of traffic, there is nothing that has held this country back as much as committees. [laughter] mr. Ryan i would like to argue that this one has made a very special contribution to our democracy. Remember how we started. The house ways and Means Committee was created in the first session of congress in 1789. And it dismissed after two months after that time. Congress needed to raise money for the federal government. Most members thought it be more efficient just to differ to Alexander Hamilton to do it. He was a pretty darn smart guy and he knew what he was doing. Well, it wasnt until later that many of them realized they didnt like what he was doing. And so they wanted to make their own judgment. Independent of the administration. So the house recreated the committee and this is where we have been, here, in business, ever since then. We conduct oversight of the administration. We double check the numbers. Of course, most often, we dropped our own legislation. You could say that we offer a second opinion, and more importantly an example. Here, the people rule. We do not outsource the job. To some specially trained elite. Elected officials in this committee come from all walks of life to do the hard work of government. They study up on the issues. They take on a specialty. They struggle with the tradeoffs, each and every one of us do this. And through it all, they have always maintained that fears sent of independence. One of my favorite examples is we used to have this book on the history of the ways and Means Committee that was always handed out when he became a member. One of my favorite examples is he earned president Woodrow Wilsons eternal gratitude when he passed a bill to establish the income tax. He earned Woodrow Wilsons eternal hatred when he passed the bill to tax the president s salary after that. It makes you almost want to forgive him, doesnt it echo not quite, doesnt it . Not quite, though. We are looking at two enormous challenges in particular today. A huge debt that is dragging us down. And a tough global competition that is racing ahead. This committee will make the reforms that we need to do to make this country great, to move our country ahead. The questions we face are really simple. Will we shape the World Economy or will it shape us . On the home front, do we control our budget or does it control us . I will leave you with this every question of ways and Means Committee is also a question of aims and ands ends. You look at our history first, we argued over tariffs. Then we argued over the income tax. Now we argue over all sorts of things. On the surface, the issues look different. But at the core, they are the same. Who pays . How much do they pay . What do we discourage . What do we reward . On the surface, they seem like technical issues. Things like tax exemptions. But at their core, they are really fundamental issues. They are not just about what is efficient or what is effective, they are about what is right. What is fair. What is good. What is just. Each question these questions are not distractions. They are the essence of selfgovernment. Of seeing things for yourself. Making your own decisions. Reason we bother with all of this, the hearings and the meetings and the speeches and the votes and the markups, is because we believe in selfgovernment. We believe it is the way of life. We believe that it is the happiest and most filling way of life. We believe the demands that we wrestle with certain questions, with eternal questions. In fact, we believe that it is a very wrestling with these questions that actually makes us free. So tonight, we celebrate the ways and Means Committee. Thats great workshop of democracy. This great former freedom. This is a committee that has produced so much and is a committee that has attracted such great talent and is a committee that has been so well led by these fine men who chaired it before, by these names we have seen in history that are hanging on our walls, and a committee that has a lot of work ahead of it and a committee that is just grateful for this opportunity to serve in the greatest country. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, paul. Thank you very much. Sander levin, known to all of us as sandy, represents the night Congressional District of michigan and is serving his 17th term. Sandy is married to pamela and has four children. He has been described as a leading architect of trade policy that embraces globalization while protecting jobs for american workers. His tenacity in striving for a level Playing Field in International Trade is legendary. And it is memorialized by a universal joint hanging on a plaque in his office, the same joint to carry to japan to protest unfair tax barriers. Tariff barriers. And trade barriers. The cost was much more expensive here than it was there. Sandy and his brother have the unusual experience of serving together in congress for 32 years. Sandy in the house and carl in the senate. At one time, both were committee chairman. Carl was chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee. Not since 1881 had brothers held such powerful positions in congress. Carl retired in january, but sandy recently announced he was he is going to run again. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome raking member sandy levin. [applause] mr. Levin i dont know how you heard about that universal joint. Ron and all of you, i am so glad to be here. I want to make a correction right away to ron and tom. We are not one of the most powerful committees [laughter] mr. Levin the ways and Means Committee is the most powerful committee in the u. S. [applause] mr. Levin paul, im glad to be here with you. People ask me quite often how we get along. And the answer is and i want to say a few words about that aspect of life here i think there is kind of a happy personal relationship, inability to talk back and forth an ability to talk back and forth. I am sorry that all of my colleagues here have not been formally introduced. For paul and me, if i might say so, we are honored to serve with each and everyone of you. So i want to say a few things more personally. I think you know i dont shy away from ideas, clash of ideas. As you said, paul, that is why we are on this committee. Anybody who joins this committee, and i look about and see all of my colleagues here, i dont think you join this committee primarily for any reason except the issues that come before us. Everything else was secondary, and in some cases, irrelevant. And now and then contradictory. Because we dont want anything to get it away to get in the way of our work. I think back when i first came here. I talking about getting along, there was a meeting of of democrats and republicans. And i sat down to a republican and i looked up and, who was it . It was my classmate from 25, 30 years ago, nancy. We havent seen each other in decades. And your sister was the girlfriend of the brother of my girlfriend. [laughter] mr. Levin and i tell my staff nancy and i went skiing together and they want to know more. And i said, there is nothing more. [laughter] mr. Levin and then come if i might say, for some reason, i was asked by a subcommittee of ways and means to join them on a trip to eastern europe. It was my first year, i think, here. I wasnt on the committee. Maybe it was i had been on administrative aid. I went on this trip, and i must say, some of you get bored hearing me talk about it, but it really set the stage for my feelings about this committee. The chairman, sam givens, barbara, bill, jim jones, and others, we traveled on a bus around eastern europe. And there was so much camaraderie that does have decided he would give the honors of introducing us to the various leaders of these governments. He would spread the honors. Fortunately, i did not end up because i was not yet on the committee being chosen to introduce the members of the committee to mr. Typecast grew mr. Charge of school chow chow school we had a fabulous time and how it struck by the camaraderie. The good feeling within that group that i was able to share. And then, i was also thinking of Social Security. You know, it was a clash of ideas. I was back in and looked at the rollcall. And i was somewhat surprised it was so bipartisan. 80 republicans voted aye and 48 no. Democrats, 100 63 and 54, if i have the figures correct. 163 and 54, if i have the biggest correct. And then i went back a