David Obey: “I have concluded that we ought to call them the congressional rubber-stamp amendments, because what is happening is we…”

“I have concluded that we ought to call them the congressional rubber-stamp amendments, because what is happening is we are seeing amendment after amendment offered that would simply return these funding levels to the exact level recommended by the President. Now I see story after story indicating that a good many of my friends on the other side of the aisle are anxious to separate themselves from the President these days, but we have evidently a few members of their caucus who are eager to embrace virtually every action and every thought that comes from the White House. The President felt we ought to eliminate this program. What does this program do? This program provides $60 million in grants to States to offer needs-based student scholarships. There are 165,000 students who will benefit from this program, getting scholarships of $1,000. I would simply ask, does anybody really believe that we are providing enough help for working families to send their kids to college?”