David Obey: “I am simply stuck here, forced to repeat much of what I said yesterday on two previous veto overrides. Nothing real is…”

“I am simply stuck here, forced to repeat much of what I said yesterday on two previous veto overrides. Nothing real is happening here today. There is no real legislation which is being pursued here today. Everybody knew the President was going to veto this bill. He made it quite clear. He indicated he was not going to sign a bill which has a huge increase in logging in the Tongass, one of the few temperate rain forests left in the world. He made it quite clear that he was not going to accept the reversal of the California Desert Protection Act, which passed last year. He made it quite clear he was not going to support other provisions, including major reductions in weatherization programs for low-income people trying to stay warm in a cold winter. But this is not about the veto. Everybody knows this veto is not going to be overridden. The only reason we are having this silly debate on the floor here today is because the majority party is trying to keep off the floor any effort to open up the entire Government. So this is a time filler. We are going to waste 2 hours on something which is going nowhere.”