David Obey: “I have vigorously opposed a number of appropriations bills that have come to the floor this year. One is the…”

“I have vigorously opposed a number of appropriations bills that have come to the floor this year. One is the labor-health-education bill, for instance; another will be the transportation bill, which has not yet come to the floor, but which has substantial problems. I have opposed them for two reasons. One reason is because the depth of the tax cuts passed by this House has meant that we have starved needed investment in areas like education, health, transportation, et cetera. The second reason that I have opposed some of those bills has been because I think that they have been drafted as though an ideological agenda was the most important consideration in putting them together. I support this bill enthusiastically, because I think it departs from the conditions that I have just described on those other bills in two ways. First of all, I think that the allocation to this subcommittee, while it is certainly, in my view, skinny in several areas, the allocation does not do as much damage to the programs under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee as is done, for instance, when we starve education and health care and worker protection programs, as we did in the labor-health-education bill. But, secondly, I support this bill because I appreciate the craftsmanship behind it.”