David Obey: “I referred earlier to what is happening in this House, when we see decisions made by subcommittees routinely overturned…”

“I referred earlier to what is happening in this House, when we see decisions made by subcommittees routinely overturned when somebody does not like them. I do not want to object, because this bill is a serious matter involving homeland security, but I must note that we are cooperating procedurally on this side of the aisle, even though this conference was gaveled to an end in a manner which prevented me from being able to get a vote on the matter that I discussed earlier on the previous bill, and in my judgment that was a slap in the face, not just to me, but to every member of the conference on both sides of the aisle who were prepared to support that motion. I think that when this House routinely allows votes to be reversed, as they were on the Medicare bill weeks ago, or when they allow conference committees to block what is clearly the action of the majority will in the subcommittees, then this House might as well not operate at all. We might as well just wire our respective buttons to our respective party leaders' offices and go get a steak somewhere for the remainder of the year. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to hear that the A-76 provision has not been arbitrarily removed.”