David Obey: “American citizens often hear Members of Congress talk in terms that they do not understand. They hear us talking about…”

“American citizens often hear Members of Congress talk in terms that they do not understand. They hear us talking about Blue Dogs, Blue Dog Democrats, they hear us talking about Yellow Dog Democrats. Sometimes they see us acting like lap dogs, and today I am afraid that the House may wind up genuflecting to Top Dogs, because that has been the general pattern on the issue that I am raising this afternoon. After 9/11, the Congress passed a $15 billion airline assistance package, $5 billion in direct cash payments and $10 billion in direct loans and loan guarantees. The Congress was asked at the same time, and a number of us have tried to get it done, but Congress had asked at the same time that we were bailing out the airline industry to also recognize workers within that same industry who were also losing their jobs and should have some help from the government. The Congress responded by saying, no, thank you. Now, the bill that the House passed last week contained $3.2 billion in cash payments for the airline industry on this go-round and the Senate bill contained a figure of slightly over $2 billion. We are here today again to ask that if we are going to be bailing out the airline industry that we also provide some $275 million in assistance to the workers in that same industry by providing an additional 26 weeks of temporary extended unemployment benefits for displaced airline-related workers.”