David Obey: “I yield myself 7 additional minutes. Mr. Speaker, I really believe that, what is happening both on this Labor, Health…”

“I yield myself 7 additional minutes. Mr. Speaker, I really believe that, what is happening both on this Labor, Health, Education bill and on the subject that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant) just mentioned is a true test of our priorities, our character, our fairness, and our humanity. We all sit here in comfortable jobs. We fight like the devil to get them. We sometimes pay a heavy physical and emotional price for occupying these jobs because people are often not very fair in their assessment of public officials, and they will use the slightest weakness in any human being and try to use that weakness to define that individual rather than taking a look at the whole. So sometimes politics can be a very discouraging business and sometimes one wonders why one is in it. The answer to me, for myself, is that I came here because I thought this was the place to be more than any other--I never wanted to be a Member of the United States Senate, I never wanted to have any job at all except to be a Member of this House--because this is supposed to be the people's House. This is where we are supposed to be, because we have 2-year terms, we are supposed to be closest to the desires and the needs of the American people. When we come here and cast our votes, these votes are supposed to be about something bigger than just the differences between our parties.…”