David Obey: “the majority is currently planning to include a provision in this rule that will effectively allow an increase in the…”

“the majority is currently planning to include a provision in this rule that will effectively allow an increase in the Nation's debt ceiling. In my view, this procedural gimmick is an abuse of the troops that this bill is meant to support. It abuses the troops in order to hide responsibility. It epitomizes the total lack of shared sacrifice that this administration and the Republican majority have hoisted on the American people. This administration has taken action in Iraq on the basis of misguided, misinformed, and manipulated intelligence. It has exposed American troops to greater risk than necessary because of poor post-war planning. It has so stretched the Army that it has effectively reinstituted the draft for those in the Guard and Reserve who are now being told that they will have to extend their service in Iraq beyond their original hitch. While this administration has been asking for so much sacrifice from those servicemen and women, it has asked for virtually no sacrifice from the most well off and the most well connected members of this society. The administration has run up huge additional debts in order to give those people supersized tax cuts averaging over $80,000 for people that make $1 million or more. The majority is then using the defense appropriations bill as a vehicle to enable them to continue the reckless additions to this debt brought on by those tax cuts. It is a cynical game that should shame even those who run this Congress.”