David Obey: “let me make clear that I think that this bill is very much short of what we need in a variety of areas, including…”

“let me make clear that I think that this bill is very much short of what we need in a variety of areas, including environmental protection, housing and veterans' care. The problem, however, is that this committee was constrained in its ability to meet those needs by the budget agreement, and given that fact, I think the committee has done a perfectly reasonable job. I am especially pleased by the fact that the committee did not do what is often done in this place, which is to dump amendments that are adopted in the House once they go to conference on important matters. I am happy that the committee retained the spirit of the amendment that I offered when this bill was on the floor, which removed a good many millions of dollars for the insider deal on the wind tunnel and instead transferred that money to veterans' funding so that we could do a better job of providing for veterans' health care. I am pleased that the committee retained the spirit of that amendment in conference and wound up providing a higher amount for veterans' health care than was in the original administration request or the committee bill. I appreciate that action on the part of the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis] and the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Stokes] and the committee.”