David Obey

He tells the truth fearlessly, and he is a patriot in every sense of the word. I will miss David's commitment, his dedication, and his integrity. And though soon no longer to be a colleague, he will always be my friend, and I think I know…

I happen to agree with the gentleman from Virginia on the substance of the issue. But the fact is that the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee voted in open session with open debate to adopt the Cole amendment. Now, as chairman of the…

This amendment was a Republican amendment offered by Mr. Cole from Oklahoma. It was not slipped in. It was voted in in the subcommittee appropriation bill 5 months ago.

The way I see it, we're watching a let's pretend attack on the deficit tonight by singling out these items that cost about a million bucks. If Members are concerned about the deficit, I would ask, why did they vote for two tax cuts…

I have the highest respect and appreciation for our troops who have done everything asked of them, but they are being let down by the inability of the governments of Afghanistan and, in some instances, Pakistan to do their parts. I would…

This bill also provides for a 1-month extension of the Recovery Act Small Business Lending program and provides an additional $60 million for that program. Through March 12 of this year, the Recovery Act Small Business Lending program has…

I largely agree with my friend from Oklahoma. We have one simple dilemma: both in the case of the Cobell settlement and the Pigford settlement, the administration has asked us to provide the money. We do not yet have an understanding of…

We are not adding one dime to the deficit by what we are adding to the summer jobs program. We are fully paying for it by cuts in other programs.

Why do you keep saying we're borrowing money to add to the summer youth program when this bill fully offsets every dime that we're spending on it?

I would simply say, Mr. Speaker, that the White House submitted this request for disaster relief over a month ago. Everyone in this institution has known about it; in addition to which, the gentleman's staff has known for a good 2 weeks…

There is one difference between my friends over here who are speechifying against health care reform today and 50 million Americans. The difference is that the roughly 15 Americans over here all have health insurance, and it is largely…

I think to give Khalid Sheikh Mohammed greater rights than we give an American man or woman who serves in the military is wrong.

I feel an obligation on behalf of the families, there were 30 people from my District who died in the attack on 9/11.

In a one-year experimental period, in the worst drug market in Nassau County, the level of drug arrests have been reduced by 80 percent.

The most powerful voice in those meetings, and this is what we did in Mr. Davis' district as well, is the voice of the community.

Every member ought to know what they are prepared to be defeated for.

A test of a moral society is what kind of future it leaves for its future generations.

And so the enemy is not external. Pogo said it, 'We met the enemy, and the enemy is us.'

But we can't afford not to--rigorously look at how we can continue to be ahead in terms of education and be innovative.

The push for national standards has always been fought by those people who say that, you know, we should have local control of schools.

One of the real fallacies of No Child Left Behind is that it suggests that somehow we should get a comparable result when we do not have a comparable opportunity for our young people to learn.

But the truth of the matter is that I think we know better and that it does matter.

Hilary Clinton went over to China and was literally with a tin cup begging the Chinese to buy our paper.

I think in the year 2030 every dollar of taxpayer money that comes in will go for Medicare, Medicaid, social security, and interest on the debt.