David Obey: “I want to thank the Members on both sides of the aisle for their courtesies over the past 42 years, and I want to say…”

“I want to thank the Members on both sides of the aisle for their courtesies over the past 42 years, and I want to say that it has been a privilege for each and every one of us, whether we have served here one term or 21 or even more, it is a privilege for all of us to have been sent to this place, to the people's House. I can think of no greater privilege and you cannot. This is the only place in the government that you have to be elected in order to occupy our jobs. In the Senate you don't have to be elected. Even in the Presidency, you don't have to be elected under quirky circumstances, and I think all of us can be proud of that distinction. Let me also say... I wish I could say that this legislation lived up to that lofty goal. It does not. It has many, many shortcomings.”