David Obey: “I had not wanted to take any more time this evening, but I was in my office and I heard several silly suggestions that…”

“I had not wanted to take any more time this evening, but I was in my office and I heard several silly suggestions that somehow bills like this are going to seriously add to the deficit and require a tax increase and all of that other frothy nonsense. I would simply like to quote from a document by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, one of the most respected organizations in this country in terms of keeping everybody honest about budget facts. This is what they said in a report issued today: ``The main dispute between the administration and Congress is over a $21 billion difference in domestic appropriations. The administration proposes to cut these programs $16 billion below the 2000 levels after adjusting for inflation and threatens to veto bills that do not contain these cuts. Congress would reject these cuts and instead provide a modest increase to these programs of $5 billion or 1.4 percent.'' The report then goes on to say the following: ``Some 81 percent of the increases in appropriations under the emerging bills consist of increases for military and homeland security programs that the President himself requested.…”