David Obey: “for weeks we have been wondering whether the Republican moderates were going to stick to their guns when they said they…”

“for weeks we have been wondering whether the Republican moderates were going to stick to their guns when they said they knew that it was wrong to pass a budget that provided $40 billion in tax cuts for people making $1 million a year while you are squeezing the guts out of education and health programs. We now know the answer. They are doing a poor imitation of Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion in ``The Wizard of Oz.'' I wish Bert were here. He would cry at their performance. The fact is they are now selling out for a promise that if sometime in the deep, dark, distant future somebody does something to change this budget resolution, then there might be a table scrap or two left for additional education and health care. There is about as much chance of that happening as there is of the Chicago Cubs winning the pennant this year. With respect to what the gentleman from Florida said on education, the fact is the Congress promised the States that on special education we would pay for 40 percent of the costs. Each year for the last 3 years, the Federal share of the cost of special education has been cut by budgets that you have voted for. You talk about Pell Grants. The fact is it costs $3,400 more to go to a 4-year public college today than it did 5 years ago. The President wanted to solve that by adding $100 to the Pell Grant program. House Republicans said, no, that was too much.…”