David Obey: “I am of a split mind on this amendment, just as I was on the previous Holt amendment this evening. I think the goal of…”

“I am of a split mind on this amendment, just as I was on the previous Holt amendment this evening. I think the goal of the amendment is certainly worthwhile; but at the same time I am trying to follow a responsible course with respect to the ability of executive agencies to function administratively. So again I would simply say that I think the fact that this amendment is being offered in a way that would draw further funds out of the Department of Labor management accounts is another demonstration that the White House is dead wrong when they say that this bill contains too much money. Virtually every amendment that has been offered tonight on both sides of the aisle has been an amendment, with four exceptions, that relate to the President's budget, they have all been efforts to increase funds. I think that demonstrates that we are substantially short of where we really need to be. I am not going to mount the barricades to oppose the amendment, but I simply have to observe that while the amendment is certainly worthwhile, the offset that it proposes is really not a real one, and I think we all know when we go to conference we are going to have to repair the administrative budget of the agency.”