Marty Walsh: “I would submit that it means nothing, because we are not instructing the Senate; the Senate is instructed by the…”

“I would submit that it means nothing, because we are not instructing the Senate; the Senate is instructed by the Senators. We are instructing the House conferees. Since there is no controversy over the defense bill, the only thing we are instructing the conferees on is the supplemental. Now, who are the conferees? Well, they just happen to be all here today at the same time in the same room: the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young.) They know how they are going to vote, clearly. So who are we really instructing? What is this exercise all about? Polemics? Politics? I am not sure. The fact is, the President has made the point over and over again. The supplemental will not go over $20 billion. It took me a while to figure that out. I offered an amendment in the Committee on Appropriations to add money to this. We lost the amendment. The House decided not to go over $20 billion, and we did not.”