David Obey: “Mr. Speaker, first let me say that, when I left, or when the bill left the House originally, I opposed it because I…”

“Mr. Speaker, first let me say that, when I left, or when the bill left the House originally, I opposed it because I thought that the reductions that were provided for rural sewer and water and rural housing were very much too deep to reflect a fair share of the required spending reductions in the budget which were assigned to rural America. Mr. Speaker, I think people often forget there is as much poverty in rural America, in fact more, than there is in urban America, and we, as a society, have a tendency to ignore that. I want to congratulate the gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Skeen] and the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Durbin] because I think that they have done probably the best job that was possible to do in restoring some of those unfair reductions and achieving a better balance within the bill in terms of the reductions that are required. And I guess, while I am uncomfortable with some of the reductions, I guess I would have to say that I think people in rural America want spending reductions as much as anybody else, and, if they do, then they have to expect them to be applied to programs that affect rural America just like everybody else. So, while I still have great misgivings about some of the squeeze that this will put on our rural communities, I cannot really quarrel with the judgments that the committee has made.”