David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, what we have done at this point in the bill, and I sense a little confusion around here, what we have done…”

“Mr. Chairman, what we have done at this point in the bill, and I sense a little confusion around here, what we have done is to conclude the core defense appropriation bill for the coming year. We are now moving on to the supplemental title, which deals with funding for many of the activities that were promised after the events of September 11. I want to say with respect to the proposal that is before us that there is no real difference between the minority and the majority on the items that are at present in the bill, as added by the committee. What the committee did, and let me back up and speak very frankly, when the chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), and I were trying to consider what other actions might be necessary to combat terrorism, in addition to those that were funded or that were going to be funded in the original $20 billion that was left over from the earlier agreement, his staff and mine began to work on a common list of actions that ought to be taken in order to protect our homeland.”