David Obey: “the account that the gentleman is asking that we increase has been increased in this bill by 100 percent. The account…”

“the account that the gentleman is asking that we increase has been increased in this bill by 100 percent. The account that the gentleman would cut in order to finance the increase that he is asking for is the account that funds infectious disease control efforts at CDC; it is the account that funds the disease detectives who are right now at this very moment searching for anthrax; it is the account that funds breast and cervical screening; it is the account that funds TB control; it is the account that funds sexually transmitted diseases; and, in addition to that, the gentleman cuts the Child Care Block Grant account. Now, I would point out that with respect to the item that the gentleman seeks to increase, he seeks to increase the funding that we are providing for abstinence programs. I fully support those programs. I voted for them in the past, and I have helped the gentleman get the funding for them. I would point out that the increase that the gentleman has gotten in this bill for those family planning programs is twice as high as the increase that we have provided in this bill for the traditional family planning programs. So the gentleman has already gotten the better part of the deal. Now he is asking us to fund yet another increase. And I have no problem with that increase. I have no problem with it whatsoever.…”