David Obey: “Mr. Speaker, I think the last speaker has just revealed what the problem is in this place. We are being told that we…”

“Mr. Speaker, I think the last speaker has just revealed what the problem is in this place. We are being told that we will eventually get together after the election and get these problems solved. The fact is that when we come back after the election, we will have a huge Iraq war supplemental facing us, we will have the need to pass next year's appropriation bills, and we will never get to these unless we do our work now. The second point I would make is that much has been made of the fact that the other body has not passed a budget resolution. In fact, in fiscal year 1999, this Congress never agreed to a budget resolution. Despite that fact, by October 1, the House had passed 12 of its 13 appropriation bills. So that demonstrates to me that if there is a will to address issues rather than avoid them, that you can get things done. It happened in 1999. The only reason we are wrapped around the axle now is because the hard right of the majority Republican caucus does not want to pass any education bill except the President's budget-level bill, and a lot of other Members in the Republican Party recognize that that would be politically disastrous to them because the public does not want to bring to a screeching halt the 5-year progress we have made in expanding education resources all around the country.”