David Obey: “my father was the only man in America who moved to Oklahoma during the Depression to get a job. I was born there by…”

“my father was the only man in America who moved to Oklahoma during the Depression to get a job. I was born there by accident. I would simply say that I do not think the folks in Okmulgee would vote for this amendment if they fully understood it. This bill already increases funding for AIDS drugs from $167 to $299 million. That is an increase of 79 percent. Last year, this committee also increased funding for this program by $117 million. That means that this committee in 2 years time, under the leadership of the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Porter] has raised this account from $50 to $299 million. I would say that that is going a far piece to meet our responsibilities in this area. I would also point out that the area that the gentleman chooses to take the money from, the major area, is an especially savage source for his money. We had a major debate in this country last year on welfare reform. We, I think, properly cut back on the benefit levels that we were going to provide for immigrants. I do not think that our immigration policy ought to be used as a substitute for an international welfare policy. But refugees are a far different matter. Refugees come to this country, whether they came to this country because they were Russian Jews escaping the Soviet Union or whether they came to this country because they were Hmong refugees who fought and bled and died to help our GI's in Vietnam and in Laos and lost their country because of it.”