David Obey: “I think that there are times when it is just as legitimate for the Congress to specify that $5 million will go for a…”

“I think that there are times when it is just as legitimate for the Congress to specify that $5 million will go for a specific highway project as it is for the administration to determine that that is where the money ought to go. But I do believe that, when you have this number of projects, there is only one reason you have this many projects in the bill; and that is to pass a budget busting monster. I did not vote for the budget that passed last year, because, as the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Appropriations, I warned that this Congress would never live up to the cuts that they were promising in that proposal. I need go no further than this bill in order to demonstrate that that was the case. I have had many a Member come up to me today and say, I would like to vote for you. In fact, I would like to speak for you. One Member said, you see this little item at the top of that red line? I am afraid that is my project. So you are going to see a lot of folks vote for that bill tomorrow because they have gotten a tiny little bit for their district, and that will mean that they will vote for a product which will bust the budget.”