David Obey: “I have been around this institution long enough to know what an amendment looks like when it does cut off and end the…”

“I have been around this institution long enough to know what an amendment looks like when it does cut off and end the war because we voted that way to end the Vietnam War. I voted for that resolution, or for that amendment. I also voted to require the President to come back to the Congress for a second vote before he went to war if the Security Council did not agree with his decision to go to war, so I think my position is clear. I think there are going to be very bad, long-term results from this war. But having said that, I think it is incorrect for the gentleman to say that this amendment will, in effect, bring the troops home. It does no such thing. All it does is to say that we will not reimburse the Pentagon for money which has already largely been spent. It simply does not replenish those accounts. I do not think that that is a rational thing to do. Secondly, I would point out one of my problems with this bill is that this bill already, in my view, substantially understates, and therefore substantially hides from public view, the full cost of this war. It is going to cost a lot more than the $70 billion in this bill today. The effect of offering this amendment, in my view, would be to further mask the real cost of that war. I do not think that is a healthy thing to do.”