David Obey: “I want to say, I think this amendment is well-intentioned, and some of the cuts I would personally not differ with, but…”

“I want to say, I think this amendment is well-intentioned, and some of the cuts I would personally not differ with, but the fact is if we take it as a whole, what it really does is repair the damage done to California by the earthquake, and transfer the shockwaves to the rest of the country. I want to give the Members some specific examples of the negative effects this will have. This proposition calls for $3.1 billion in administrative expense reductions. It sounds harmless, but when we take it down to the individual agency level, let me give some examples. What it means for the Social Security Administration is that they would have to lay off 2,000 FTE equivalents, which, because we are already halfway into the fiscal year, means they would have to lay off about 4,000 people. Those are people who are supposed to process all of the claims under the Social Security Administration. Do we really want to slow down that process further? Do we really want to erode the service that we are providing to seniors and disabled people? Do we really want to see curtailed hours? Do we really want to increase waiting times to get checks and to get questions answered? Medicare contractors. Do we really want to slow down that claims process even more? Do we really want to delay additionally the oversight that is done for the waste and fraud? I do not think so.…”