David Obey: “all I would say is that the substitute we are going to offer simply asks two things: make sure there is a 30-day comment…”

“all I would say is that the substitute we are going to offer simply asks two things: make sure there is a 30-day comment period because the proposal before us does not go into effect for a year and a half, so there is hardly a rush. And, second, we are taking the seven standards defined by the Governor and simply asking HHS to determine whether or not the bill does in fact meet these seven standards defined by the Governor on page 4 of his presentation document. If these seven statements are true, they waive it. If they are not, they work with the State to make certain that they are true. This is not a legislative opportunity before us. This is a 2-year cooked-up special order, pretending that we are doing something when, in fact, nothing real is going to happen. In my view this is simply a Gingrich political special. It is another exercise in dividing people, in pretending there are divisions when there are none. Every Member of the Wisconsin delegation wants the Wisconsin welfare program to be tried. Most of my political allies in the State legislature voted for it. All we want to do is to exercise our responsibility as Federal Representatives of Wisconsin to see to it that this package is what we are told it is. That is all the resolution asks for. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. If anybody is interested in working with each other rather than simply playing political games, they will vote for the Kleczka amendment.”