enactments that bear his name or on which he left his mark, however, let me stress that he worked tirelessly on the issues of taxes, military security, and the unification of the party he loved so well. He was renowned for seeking out innovative solutions to old problems, cutting deep at their cause. BILL STEIGER will go down in history for his successful fight for reduction in capital gains taxes over the opposition of the present administration and the House leadership. Although he fought hard for his tax plan to stimulate capital formation, he supported the final compromise since he unselfishly always put the national interest above his own.

Through his career his dedication and good sense of humor served him well and he employed his recently found notoriety fundraising for his party. But during this exposure he always managed to remain levelheaded and soundly rejected any proposal to seek higher office.

Even those who disagreed with his methods of doing things were fascinated by his continued persistence. He worked long hours and sacrificed valued times with his wife, Janet, and son, Bill, Junior, in the service of his country. Those who ever had the chance to watch BILL with his son will fondly recall that these were precious moments to him.

On a personal note, I can recall many luncheon engagements with BILL and our good friend, George Bush, a fellow freshman in the 90th Congress. It was at these meetings that I learned just how much he enjoyed being a Congressman. He had a deep appreciation and love for his country and great insight into the work that needed to be accomplished in order to maintain our present national stature in the world. He enjoyed his chosen vocation in life, that was obvious, and cherished it because he knew that no other career would offer him the chance to help people as much as this one.

Lastly, I would like to extend my heartfelt sympathy to Janet Steiger and to Bill, Junior. Through my acquaintance with BILL'S brother, Don, and his lovely family, who reside within the borders of my own congressional district in Arkansas, I am aware of how deeply he will be missed.

Mr. JONES of Oklahoma. Madam Speaker, this special order is a very difficult one for me because it is about a man who was a close personal friend of mine, as well as someone for whom I had the highest personal regard, respect, and admiration for his professional accomplishments.

I had written some remarks for BILL STEIGER, but I prefer not to give those because, in reading them over, they are simply a lot of

words and they do not really capture the vibrancy and the vitality and the warmth and honesty that those of us who knew BILL STEIGER knew really represented him.

BILL STEIGER was a man who was really driven by excellence in virtually everything he did professionally, personally, and in every other way. He made a very significant impact on the House of Representatives and I think on the Nation as a whole.

He was a man who could not be neatly compartmentalized in some philosophical or partisan cubicle. He was a man who diligently and exhaustively searched out the truth as best he could find it, who sought the facts from all different sources of the political and philosophical spectrum.

Madam Speaker, I think BILL STEIGER is remembered for two legislative accomplishments. One was very early in his career, about in 1970 or so, in his second or third term. He was one of the principal architects of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act. This was considered by most to be a liberal accomplishment. In the last Congress I had the pleasure of working very closely with BILL in helping to fashion the tax legislation to get this country moving in the direction of putting more capital into private investments and equity securities, providing more capital formation, and specifically to get into law BILL STEIGER's reduction in the capital gains tax, which he believed very deeply was necessary to get this country strengthened economically. I guess that was considered a conservative accomplishment.

How could BILL STEIGER be noted for both a liberal and a conservative accomplishment? I think it goes back to what I said earlier. He was not straitjacketed by philosophical perceptions. He really sought out the truth in the best way he could.

I imagine the full measure of BILL STEIGER cannot be summed up in his legislative accomplishments or in his professional career. One really had to know him as a man to appreciate his enormous capacity for accomplishment.

I came onto the Committee on Ways and Means at the same time that BILL STEIGER did, 4 years ago. He had talked about the need for openness, the need to involve more of the American people in the process of government, particularly the legislative process.

The two of us took hearings out on the road, first in Oklahoma and then in Wisconsin. We held tax hearings. As I understand it, that was the first time that field hearings were held among members of the Committee on Ways and Means. BILL STEIGER went into that

endeavor with all of the vitality, enthusiasm, and energy at his command.

I know of one person in Oklahoma City who was present when we had hearings there. He was a businessman whom I had never met. He had never been active in politics. He just came down, and he stood in the back of the room. He was captivated by the process and captivated by BILL STEIGER. As a result, he stayed there all afternoon, never said anything, but listened to all the hearings. From then on, he became very active in local government, sharing his advice and comments at the national level and getting more people involved in the political process. He became enthused because of the contagious enthusiasm which BILL STEIGER displayed that day in Oklahoma City.

I have many fond memories and recollections of BILL STEIGER. A lot of them deal with his family because we were neighbors on Capitol Hill. His son, Billy, is a year older than our older son. I can see BILL STEIGER and Billy coming down the alley at the height of things, when all the pressure was on to pass the tax bill, and most people were scurrying around getting votes and preparing speeches and what have you.

At that time BILL STEIGER went home to take Billy to the local drugstore to get an ice cream cone and to play with Billy before he came back and did his homework here that night. He always made time for his family. That was of prime importance to him.

At one time the kids in the neighborhood, the little 6-, 7-, 8-, and 9-year-old kids, decided they wanted to have a football team. They started lobbying different fathers in the neighborhood, and it was BILL STEIGER who came up with the T-shirts, and the "Steiger Tigers" became the football team of Capitol Hill. The kids looked to BILL STEIGER for that kind of support.

Again, there are many fond memories I have of BILL STEIGER and of Janet, who was his full partner in all he did. I know that he was so dedicated to politics and to public service. A few years ago he was offered a tremendous job at a tremendous salary, many times more than what he could receive here in the House of Representatives; and he turned it down at a time when he could have provided much better for his family, much more security and a much better life for his family; but that was not his motivation.

His motivation was to work within this institution, as has already been said, to work within the established institutions of this country in a way to improve society as a whole and not BILL STEIGER as an

individual. He contributed so much to this country; he will be missed very deeply. But those of us who knew him, while we are saddened by his loss and I know that his family will miss him so much in so many ways it is also a time of happiness for us because he touched our lives in a very personal way and made us better for having known him.

Mr. McCLORY. Madam Speaker, as the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Jones) indicated, who likewise is a neighbor of the Steigers on Capitol Hill, BILL STEIGER, Jan Steiger, and Billy are our next-door neighbors, so we came to know them personally in a very intimate way, and to love and respect them. We have so many personal accounts that I think my remarks, as brief as they will be here today, would be of a personal nature of the individual and the person of BILL STEIGER.

Madam Speaker, the passing of Congressman WILLIAM STEIGER of Wisconsin on Monday, December 4, the House of Representatives and the entire Nation experienced a great and unexpected loss. From a purely personal standpoint, I should add that my wife, Doris, and I have lost a close personal friend, who was our next-door neighbor on Constitution Avenue.

Congressman BILL STEIGER and his wife, Janet, and their small son, Billy, represent a closely knit family where each reflects the love and devotion which contribute to a perfect household. We have great affection for our neighbors and have watched 9-year-old Billy Steiger develop. At the same time we have observed Jan and BILL STEIGER as they have molded their family ties and developed their individual and joint interests while establishing a permanent and substantial home in Washington-where Congressman BILL STEIGER continued to represent the Sixth Congressional District of Wisconsin.

In my view, Congressman BILL STEIGER has been one of the most resourceful, articulate, and useful Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. His thoughtful analyses of the problems and needs of our Nation were translated into logical and attainable legislative solutions. He was eloquent and persuasive in debate and his following on the House Ways and Means Committee and in the House of Representatives was substantial.

The "Steiger amendment" to reduce capital gains taxes for all Americans and to help provide incentives for capital formations for new plants and equipment, and for more jobs for more Americans, produced the framework for the tax reform legislation of 1978, which

has benefited virtually every taxpayer in the Nation-and has contributed to improving the American economy.

My wife, Doris, and I were privileged, a few months ago to attend BILL STEIGER'S 40th birthday party where joy was coupled with expectations of hope for a future life of public service and family relationships—which had dominated the experiences of this 40-yearold youth during most of his adult years.

Madam Speaker, it can be appropriately observed, that the longest human lives are not always the most productive or rewarding. In the case of BILL STEIGER, his earthly years were relatively short but the importance of his life and the great meaning that it has had for all of us who have come to know him is a priceless and treasured gift for which we are eternally grateful.

Doris and I have a great respect and love for BILL STEIGER, Janet Steiger, and young Billy. We sense that love deeply at this hour as we reflect upon Congressman BILL STEIGER and his life, and as we extend to his wonderful dad, Carl Steiger, and to all members of his family our affection and deepest sympathy.

Mr. MAGUIRE. Madam Speaker, there are occasions when prose is inadequate and only poetry really can serve. Some of the eloquent statements we have heard in the past few minutes approach that. The great life events—marriage, the birth of a child, death-are times when the edges of a larger reality break through the complacent routine of our daily assumptions and overshadow the descriptions and legislative arguments normally spoken here. But I am not a poet and my halting language in memory and honor of BILL STEIGER will have to serve.

Though our specific objectives were sometimes opposed, BILL STEIGER and I shared common interests and goals, including a commitment to young people through our work over the years with the Young Men's Christian Association. He came here 8 years before my own arrival, but we were the same age, shaped by many of the same circumstances the country's emergence from McCarthyism; the battle for civil rights and equality of opportunity at home; the struggle to define a new concept of America's role in peace abroad; the growing belief that citizens and their government are not opponents, but have a mutual stake in this Nation's future and must act for each other, not just for themselves.

Nearly two decades ago, when BILL STEIGER and I had barely begun our majority, President Kennedy electrified the country and ini