David Obey: “I do not want to arbitrarily cut this off, but at the same time I do not want the House to engage in needless…”

“I do not want to arbitrarily cut this off, but at the same time I do not want the House to engage in needless conversation when this proposition is going to be objected to, and I am going to object. The fact is that we have been told by a lobbyist on good authority that he has already been told what number he is going to get under the conference agreement. It seems to me that there may not have been a preconference, but it appears to me that there is a pretty good idea of what is likely to happen once that conference takes place. I do not want this House to be in a position where Members, regardless of which side of the issue they are on, find the committee coming back in the dead of night with a done deal and having this bill pass with virtually nobody on the floor. To try to help save Members from that, I do object.”