David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, let me explain what this amendment is all about. I served in the legislature with a fellow by the name of…”

“Mr. Chairman, let me explain what this amendment is all about. I served in the legislature with a fellow by the name of Harvey Dueholm, who was a retired farmer, probably the single best legislator I ever knew. He had a number of pithy observations of life and politics in this country. One of the things he said regularly is that one of the problems with this country is all that too often the poor and the rich get the same amount of ice, but the poor get theirs in the wintertime. That is certainly the case with respect to the tax bill which this Congress passed a number of weeks ago. To correct that, I am trying to offer this amendment today along with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) and let me explain what it is we are trying to do. When the House voted on the tax bill, it voted on it separately before we even had a budget. That meant that, in effect, Members of this House were being shielded from the responsibility to make public choices about the trade-offs that were wrapped into that tax bill.”