Robert Berry: “I think that we have indeed on the Committee on Appropriations had good leadership. I compliment the gentleman from…”

“I think that we have indeed on the Committee on Appropriations had good leadership. I compliment the gentleman from Florida on the great job he has done leading that committee. I compliment my own ranking member the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) for the wonderful work that he does, but I think, Mr. Speaker, rather than just pass another CR and let us see how long we can stall dealing with the problems of the American people, facing up to the reality that we have got some massive problems in this country, it is time to realize that we have some serious problems, and the way to fix those problems is for us to work together like we have under the leadership of the gentleman from Florida and the gentleman from Wisconsin. Let us face our problems, come to some realistic solutions that do not involve enriching our friends, do not involve enriching large corporations, do not involve further enriching the pharmaceutical industry in this country. One of the things that is holding up the completion of this year's work is the Medicare reform bill. One of the things that is holding it up is the massive debt that we are creating for our children and grandchildren with absolutely no plan, no plan whatsoever to deal with it. Our seniors do not have the medicine that they need, and we know how to fix this problem. We can actually fix this problem without spending a large amount of government money.”