David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, I share the disdain of the gentleman from North Carolina for the scurrilous press release, the totally…”

“Mr. Chairman, I share the disdain of the gentleman from North Carolina for the scurrilous press release, the totally misleading press release which was issued last night by the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Everyone knows that the issue on the rule had nothing whatsoever to do with the congressional cost of living. It had everything to do with our disagreement about the abandoning of the effort to treat as an emergency the Year 2000 computer problems faced by virtually every agency of government, and it had everything to do with the decision of the Committee on Rules to, in effect, knock out the Lowey amendment on family planning. I make no apology for the fact that the law provides that under normal circumstances, Members of Congress are entitled to a cost of living adjustment in their pay on an annual basis, minus one-half percent below the amount that has been given to other workers in this society in the previous year. That is what the formula provides. That formula provides that Members' salaries will be whatever private sector workers have received in the previous year minus one-half percent. That is simply a short COLA. I make no apology for that. I think that is a rational approach. But to make clear how phony that press release was, I would urge Members to vote against the amendment offered by the gentleman from North Carolina.”