The Republican committee chairman had some things he wanted done. The Democratic ranking member of that committee had some different, but not incompatible, things that he wanted done. So they talked it out, struck a deal, got a couple of bills through their committee and at least made it possible for something to get accomplished.
Utah’s Rep. Rob Bishop had been criticized for being just another congressional obstructionist when it looked as though the reauthorization of a crucial program that buys, protects and maintains public lands might not happen. Bishop’s point was that putting the brakes on what had been a more or less automatic renewal was justified as part of his effort to get that program to do less buying and more maintaining.