David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, what this amendment does is to take away the President's line item veto authority of the money that this…”

“Mr. Chairman, what this amendment does is to take away the President's line item veto authority of the money that this bill contains to fund full mobilization for the Guard and Reserve. As I indicated earlier, we had been told that one of the things that held up the administration's request for a supplemental was the argument between OMB and DOD about whether or not full funding should be provided for the mobilization costs associated with Guard and Reserve forces after September 11. DOD lost the argument, and that meant that they did not get the money which would require 20 percent demobilization. That comes despite the fact that the Secretary of Defense on May 13 sent a memorandum to his senior staff reading as follows: ``We have had stop-loss in place for some months preventing people on active duty from leaving the service. In addition, we are extending the assignment of thousands and thousands of Guard and Reserves who have been called away from homes and normal employment to serve on active duty. The entire force is facing the adverse results of the high pace OPTEMPO and PERSTEMPO.''”