David Obey: “I am most reluctantly going to vote yes for this bill, because in contrast to the Republican bill which gutted the…”

“I am most reluctantly going to vote yes for this bill, because in contrast to the Republican bill which gutted the President's education budget, this bill is $2.6 billion above the President's education budget. This bill restores the fuel assistance program. This bill restores the summer jobs program. It funds to some degree our international responsibilities, and I think, therefore, that unless we want to tie up the government for another month, we have no choice but to vote yes on this bill. I have already made quite clear in my previous statement on the bill why I think, or what I see in this bill that I believe is wrong. And I have also made quite clear what should be in this bill that is not. Having said that, let me simply say that I do not find it surprising that a majority party which would say no to campaign reform, a majority party which would say no to HMO reform, would, in the end, be reduced to bragging about the fact that they have killed the plan to provide better schools for many children in this country who go to schools which, if they were prisons, would be closed by Federal judges because they are in such a mess. I know that there are many other items that we would like to see in this bill that are not. We will simply have to take that debate to the American people.”