David Obey: “I personally am going to vote ``present.'' As some Members have noticed from time to time, I on numerous occasions have…”

“I personally am going to vote ``present.'' As some Members have noticed from time to time, I on numerous occasions have voted ``present'' as a matter of protest in order to suggest that the House is dealing with an issue which I believe ought to be dealt with on another level of government. Often that has been the District of Columbia with respect to its own affairs, and on occasion it has been other local units of government. This is another such occasion. I simply do not think that the same rules apply in a district which is very largely composed of white, middle-class, fairly prosperous, well-knit families and then, in contrast to other districts where you have huge amounts of poverty, childhood neglect, loosely knit families, areas such as the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson) described where children literally often do not see their parents for days at a time. And so I think that this matter is best left to local school officials because they are the people on the frontlines trying to weigh the conflicting equities that they so often face not just in schools but in police work and in a number of other areas.”