David Obey: “let me simply say, in response to the comments from the gentleman, that given what he prefers to see in this bill on…”

“let me simply say, in response to the comments from the gentleman, that given what he prefers to see in this bill on this subject, we are very lucky to have the 1-year fix at all because the White House opposed not only the long-term fix, but the short-term fix as well. I would also point out that it was last year's Congress that allowed the program to expire in the first place and never managed to get around to finding the offsets that would have enabled the committee to provide this package long term. So I recognize the legitimacy of the gentleman's concern, but I want to point out that I think that given the resistance of the White House to anything except money for the Iraqi operation and a tiny portion of our obligation for Katrina, with those two exceptions, the White House resisted every single effort made by us to deal with any problem, whether it was Western schools, whether it was kids getting knocked off health-care rolls, or whether it was the need to provide more veterans' health care. They fought it all.”