David Obey: “Let me simply respond by saying I think that is a red herring. The fact is that it is not the fault of the other body…”

“Let me simply respond by saying I think that is a red herring. The fact is that it is not the fault of the other body that this House has only produced five of the 13 appropriation bills. The other body is not even supposed to consider appropriation bills until they are reported and handled in this body. So, I think it is quaint indeed to blame the body which is supposed to act after we act for the fact that we have not acted in the first instance. The fact is that this House has produced final action on only five of 13 appropriation bills. We have the responsibility to finish all 13 of them. This is the worst record that the House has had in finishing its appropriations work of the last 15 years. The last time we had such a serious problem was the year after the Reagan tax cuts were passed and the Congress was trying to find ways, after those tax cuts resulted in huge additions to the deficit, to take additional money out of appropriations bills. So we got hung up in 1981.”