David Obey: “Mr. Speaker, yesterday this House refused to provide the financial assistance necessary to our local firemen and…”

“Mr. Speaker, yesterday this House refused to provide the financial assistance necessary to our local firemen and policemen and other first responders whose responsibility it is to be our first line of defense against terrorist attacks in communities throughout this country. Today I would hope that the House would not take action to deny the health care resources that American veterans need and deserve. I would hope we would not deny them the funds that those veterans need in order to avoid the kind of service cutoffs that we have seen the VA announce over recent weeks. I know the name of the game on the part of the White House and the majority party leadership is to preserve every possible dollar on the table for tax cuts, a huge percentage of which are aimed at the most well-off 1 percent of the folks in our society who make more than $300,000. I understand that that is the name of the game. But in my view, while I certainly wish those folks well and while I think they ought to share in the same tax cuts provided other people, I think that veterans need VA health care more than someone who is earning $500,000 a year needs to have an extra jumbo-sized tax cut.”