David Obey: “I can recall when a previous President, President Bush, asked for bipartisan help to see to it that they could in fact…”

“I can recall when a previous President, President Bush, asked for bipartisan help to see to it that they could in fact move events forward in the Middle East by withholding funds for the Israel loan guarantee. That was not a popular position for President Bush to take in the Congress. At that time I supported President Bush strongly, because I thought that unless those loan guarantees were held up, we would never see a posture on the part of the Israeli Government with respect to the settlements issue that was consistent with American foreign policy. I would compare that bipartisan support of President Bush with the quite different approach taken by the other body, and especially the majority party in the other body on the issue of Jordan. We now have this President asking for help to again move the peace process forward by funding the commitment that the President made to Jordan when they agreed to follow along in this round on the peace process. But instead, what has happened is that we have had an insistence from the majority leader in the other body that funding for Jordan be taken out of this bill, where it belongs, and put into what is essentially a domestic rescission bill.”