David Obey: “I, for one, take exception to the idea that the greatest public service that we do for people is to refuse to use the…”

“I, for one, take exception to the idea that the greatest public service that we do for people is to refuse to use the little resources we have on behalf of the constituents we represent. The size of this economy is growing. There are a huge number of power centers in this economy that have one whale of a lot more power than any individual Member of Congress, virtually every lobby group in society has a greater ability to communicate with our own constituents than we do. I make no apology for the fact that some Members of this institution use all of the resources made available to them under the rules to do their job and most effectively represent the public, and, secondly, to inform the constituents they represent about exactly what is going on out here. I think that sometimes we see this body leave the impression that somehow we are apologetic about what our offices spend in order to do that job. I try to save every dollar that I can, and I regularly turn some money back to the Treasury. But, to me, when I ran a poll a number of years ago and asked my own constituents whether they wanted less or more communication from us, less or more service, the answer came back they wanted more.”