David Obey: “I would very much like to vote for this bill. It has, through the years, been one of my favorite bills in this place…”

“I would very much like to vote for this bill. It has, through the years, been one of my favorite bills in this place; but I am not able to and still keep my word to this institution. As I said earlier to the House, in 1964 when the country decided that we were going to begin offshore oil drilling, an agreement was made to put about $900 million dollars a year of that revenue into preservation of key pieces of land around the country with the Federal Government and the States both participating in protecting that land. The problem is over the years that commitment was not kept and gradually about a $13 billion surplus was built up in that funds. That is why 3 years ago 315 Members of this House passed what was known as the CARA legislation. And what that was was an attempt to make that prior understanding finally a reality by turning funding for a number of those conservation programs into entitlements. I opposed that. I thought we ought to be able to make conservation a high priority without turning it into an entitlement superior on claims to the Treasury on items like education or health care for that matter.”