David Obey: “as Members know, what I am doing is trying to ensure that, if we are going to pass this misguided proposal, that at…”

“as Members know, what I am doing is trying to ensure that, if we are going to pass this misguided proposal, that at least we will be able to give the President the ability to reach any and all projects in the 13 appropriation bills which passed last year. I have in my hand a packet tagged by subcommittee which is entitled ``Questionable Fiscal '95 Projects by Subcommittee,'' and I know that a number of Members do not like the fact that this is being offered. But I am offering it because I basically believe this bill is flawed. First of all, I think it is based on the assumption that the Congress spends more than the President, and in fact history will show that in this last decade we have spent considerably less than the President has asked for. When you take a look at specific Presidential requests for rescissions, since 1974, Mr. Chairman, Presidents have asked this Congress to rescind $73 billion in appropriations. This Congress has actually rescinded $93 billion in appropriations, 27 percent more than the President asked us to cut. Those are not my numbers. Those are the General Accounting Office's numbers. We rescinded double the amount of spending that President Bush wanted us to rescind, and to date we have rescinded 33 percent more in spending than President Clinton has asked us to. So, I think that record should be cleared up, and, as the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Appropriations, I feel an obligation to do so.…”