David Obey: “Let me simply say that the new Republican leadership in the House has forced us to carefully take a look at a number of…”

“Let me simply say that the new Republican leadership in the House has forced us to carefully take a look at a number of spending items and take a look at a lot of programs that needed reducing. That is good. But if other Members heard what I did in my district the last 3 weeks, the public is concerned that in some cases this House is going too fast and going too far. They are concerned that while they voted Republican in the last election, they are worried that this body is producing legislation which is too extreme, that it is doing things that are not well-advised, not well thought out, and not fairly targeted. I know that a lot of my Republican colleagues have responded by saying that they favor a more moderate course, and that they expect that the Senate will modify much of what the House has done to make it more moderate. This motion would give those colleagues a chance to put their votes where their words are, by supporting not a Democratic solution, but a modern Republican solution to the rescissions issues before us, moderate Republican position fashioned in the Senate that both parties can work from.”