David Obey: “Let me simply say, Mr. Chairman, these are not Washington bureaucrats who enforce the laws to protect workers' rights in…”

“Let me simply say, Mr. Chairman, these are not Washington bureaucrats who enforce the laws to protect workers' rights in this country. These are Federal workers who died in the Oklahoma City Murrah Building. Those people are not Washington bureaucrats, they are people who lost their lives because they were enforcing the law to protect American citizens. I get tired of people who get paid $135,000 a year on this floor attacking other people in the Government, who work just as hard as we do, who care about this country just as much as we do, and who are given a very difficult job by us to enforce the laws that we pass that are sometimes confusing and sometimes conflicting. So with all due respect to politicians who take cheap shots every other day at a lot of other people who work in this Government to create a better life for Americans all across the country, I want to point out, the money we are trying to keep in this budget does not stay in Washington, it goes out to every community in the country to protect every worker in the country so that their basic rights are protected under laws which many voted against.”