David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, we have not heard pure science. We have heard pure bunkum. Let me simply tell my colleagues what the real…”

“Mr. Chairman, we have not heard pure science. We have heard pure bunkum. Let me simply tell my colleagues what the real differences are between the parties as I see them. Let me stipulate I think both political parties have had a fine tradition in this country. But I think there are some very distinct differences between our party today and theirs, and they do not have to do with who wants to write welfare checks. I sat last night in the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and I saw that committee take a number of specific steps which cut the guts out of efforts to help middle-class working families, not welfare recipients, but people who work and sweat every day to make enough money to keep a decent living standard, take care of their grandparents, take care of their parents and worry about sending their kids to school at the same time. And I saw that subcommittee last night cut $2 billion dollars out of, not welfare programs, but education programs to provide help to local school districts. The next biggest whack came at the expense of low-income elderly, disabled and poor kids, a billion and a half dollars cut from programs such as Healthy Start and Head Start. Head Start has been demonstrated to produce less welfare dependency, fewer pregnancies, and less high school dropout tendencies than kids that have not gone to Head Start programs.”