David Obey: “Mr. Chairman if this resolution is fiscally responsible, then the town drunk ought to be named the permanent president…”

“Mr. Chairman if this resolution is fiscally responsible, then the town drunk ought to be named the permanent president of the temperance union. The fact is, this resolution is the greatest demonstration of fiscal and social irresponsibility in the 35 years I have served in this institution. In the last 3 years, this Congress has followed this President off the fiscal cliff. Three years ago we had a surplus of $200 billion; today we have a deficit of over $500 billion. One-quarter of American workers live on less than $8.70 an hour, poverty level for a family of four. The number of Americans without health insurance has grown from 40 to 44 million. In one generation we have gone from the industrialized country with the smallest gap between rich and poor in the world to the country with the largest. The most-well-off 1 percent of our families control 33 percent of the Nation's wealth. The bottom 50 percent control less than 3 percent of the Nation's wealth. In the teeth of all of that, this President's and this Congress' idea of how to deal with these problems is to pass this silly budget resolution which guarantees, when it is fully effective, that a person making a million dollars a year will have an annual tax cut of $155,000. I absolutely, totally disagree with that trickle-down approach to economics, and I will vote against this resolution.”