David Obey: “I think it is fitting that, at the end of a daffy day we should be discussing a daffy deal on a daffy rule that will…”

“I think it is fitting that, at the end of a daffy day we should be discussing a daffy deal on a daffy rule that will bring a daffy bill to the floor. Let me first say that I am mystified by the way the leadership of the House is proceeding on this. My understanding of the way one is supposed to use the legislative body is that the committees are supposed to make their recommendations to the full House. Then the leadership is supposed to use the House as the vehicle that makes decisions by determining what the majority view is. That is the way we work out most of our differences out here. We bring our differences to the floor. We have an honest debate about them, and then we vote, and we see who wins and who loses. The problem that we are running into in this session is that, time and time again, when committees make recommendations that the leadership worries about, they then proceed to try to twist the rules to prevent the House from working out our differences by preventing us from even voting on them. This is another such case tonight. What is happening tonight is that the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Nethercutt) offered a proposal which I and many others supported on both sides of the aisle which would not make American farmers who are suffering record low prices the first victims of foreign policy decisions.”