David Obey: “I have the following one-word reply to the gentleman who just spoke: Baloney. A two-word reply: Double baloney. I…”

“I have the following one-word reply to the gentleman who just spoke: Baloney. A two-word reply: Double baloney. I represent Wisconsin. I take a back seat to no one in wanting to see massive welfare reform. I know that taxpayers are tired of seeing people collect money on welfare who are not willing to work to earn it, and I know that people are tired, and justifiably so, of seeing people in this society who often have their hand out but who are not willing to go to work in order to improve their own condition. I believe in personal responsibility, and I believe that people ought to be willing to accept the consequences of their own actions in their own lives. But I want to make a few remarks that correct some of the wildly inaccurate statements just made by the previous speaker. There is no 30-day deadline for the President to consider Wisconsin's W2 program. There is simply, thanks to the fact that the Congress did not eliminate it, as the majority party tried to do, there is still the protection in law that allows every single one of my constituents in Wisconsin to have at least 30 days to comment on the deal that the politicians put together at the State level in Wisconsin. That 30-day requirement is simply a 30-day minimum requirement during which the public has a right to speak out before the politicians and the bureaucrats make their final decisions. I make no apology for insisting that that 30-day public comment period be retained.”