Political Quotes

On the recordMay 25, 1994
I do not know quite where to start in correcting the misstatements that have been made on the floor, but let me simply correct one of them in the limited time. One of the speakers suggested that Exim loans are going to be taxed by the Soviet Government. The Eximbank heard that statement on television and just called me and assured me that most definitely was not the case. The gentleman quoted the article correctly. The fact is that article is wrong. In response to the gentleman from Alabama, who is concerned about the money we have to borrow, let me ask this: How much money are we going to have to borrow if Mr. Zhirinovsky and his friends win the power struggle in the Soviet Union and we have to start spending $30 billion, $40 billion, $50 billion or more a year in our defense budget? The answer is we will have to borrow all of it. That is the answer. This reminds me of World War I. After World War I, Germany was in a state of collapse. The Weimar Republic was in a state of economic turmoil. The West sat idly by. A fellow by the name of Hitler came to power. The result? 'Only' 50 million people died worldwide. 'Only' about 500,000 Americans died, because we let a critical situation get out of hand.
Said by
David Obey
Wisconsin

Editor's note · Context

Addressing concerns about Exim loans and defense spending related to the Soviet Union.

Share

More from David Obey

May 25, 1994

Discretionary appropriations now account for only about one-third of all Federal spending. Funding for all of the programs that are funded by the Committee on Appropriations will shrink relative to the size of the overall economy, relative…

govinfo.gov
Aug 10, 2010

You don't get a second chance to educate kids. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that this package will do as much as we ought to be doing to ease the squeeze on the national economy. We will have partially offset with this bill…

govinfo.gov
Jul 22, 2010

Thank God finally there will be a cease-fire for the moment on the yap-yapping and the talk-talking while the Congress actually takes some action to restore unemployment benefits for nearly 85,000 people in my State and over 22 million…

govinfo.gov
Jul 1, 2010

Let me simply say that our Republican friends are running true to form tonight. In the past 2 weeks, they have voted against funding unemployment insurance for people who have been laid off in the most excruciating recession in 70 years…

govinfo.gov

Other voices in this conversation