Norman D. Dicks: “First of all, I want to thank David Obey for all the help that he has given me over my entire career. I can remember the…”

“First of all, I want to thank David Obey for all the help that he has given me over my entire career. I can remember the first weekend I was going to be on the committee, I called him at home and I said, Do you think I can offer this amendment to change the size and ratio of subcommittees? And he says, They'll never let you do it, but I'll vote for it because it's the right thing to do. That's how I first met David Obey. After 30 years, when I became chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, I relied on him greatly for a good 302(b) allocation. Because of that, good 302(b) allocation we were able to do some incredible things. We had been working together on the national parks. We had worked on the fish and wildlife refuges. We had worked on improving the arts and humanities. And the Interior appropriations bill I know was one that David enjoyed immensely because he always was asking me, How's this going? How's that going? And I just want to thank him for everything that he's done in the last few days and over the years. He has been a tremendous leader. He has done great things for this country. Our natural resources are stronger because of David Obey.”