David Obey: “I simply want to take this reservation in order to observe that, unlike so many episodes which the public has seen…”

“I simply want to take this reservation in order to observe that, unlike so many episodes which the public has seen lately in the Congress where divisions among us have caused great turmoil and consternation both on the floor and throughout the country, both sides of the political aisle have worked very hard and very intensively with a great deal of involvement of people on both sides of the aisle in order to assure that we can overcome major differences and keep the Government open. I would simply, in continuing my reservation, make the point that there are some items in the proposition which the gentleman from Louisiana is about to bring to the House with which I have strong disagreement; for example, the reduced level of funding for education and a number of other items in the bill. But I think the overriding need of the country is for us to overcome our differences, or at least manage to live with those differences, especially since this is a CR of short-term duration, with the exception of a couple of items in the bill. So I would simply say that I want to congratulate the gentleman from Louisiana for the way he has handled this difficult task.”