David Obey: “Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the gentleman who just spoke approves of the grant to PBS that is in the highway bill? Let me…”

“Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the gentleman who just spoke approves of the grant to PBS that is in the highway bill? Let me simply say that I must say I find it hard not to chuckle at the observations made by my friend from Kentucky. He indicates that the reason OMB scoring is used is because the administration wants it. If he is telling me that the reason that OMB scoring is being used is to accommodate the administration, I would say congratulations. This is the first time that side of the aisle has paid any deference to the administration this entire year. The rest of the time, they have been savaging them. I would also simply say that I fully agree with the gentleman that the Congress has an absolute right to designate projects that it thinks are high priority. My objection is not that there are projects in this bill. My objection is that there is such a gross number in the bill, that these projects are being used to drive a bill that otherwise would not pass, because this bill is a blatant budget buster. This bill is going to spend at least $10 billion more than we are allowed to spend under the budget which passed this Congress last year.”