David Obey: “I want to stipulate that, in this instance, I think the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Hobson) has done a wonderful job…”

“I want to stipulate that, in this instance, I think the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Hobson) has done a wonderful job in seeing to it that the Congress addresses its institutional responsibilities in the areas under the energy and water bill jurisdiction, and I think he has done an excellent job in involving the minority in reaching those decisions. In the process, it has been very apparent that the primary consideration of the chairman of the subcommittee has been the substance of the legislation, and he has tried to take the conference in a direction which defends the public interest irrespective of what either some people in the Congress or some people in the executive branch of government have felt about these issues. So I simply want to take this time to congratulate the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Hobson) and to congratulate the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), the ranking minority member on the subcommittee, because they have handled this bill in a way which, in my view, all appropriations bills should be handled, all legislation should be handled, for that matter.”