David Obey: “Let me start by saying what is not in this bill. There is no money in this bill for agriculture, there is no money for…”

“Let me start by saying what is not in this bill. There is no money in this bill for agriculture, there is no money for western wildfires, there is no money for western schools. All of that will be in the next bill, which will be considered separately. Mr. Speaker, this bill is our response to the President's request for $100 billion in additional funding for the civil war in Iraq, after he vetoed the Congress's first attempt to deal with that problem. What the bill does is to provide roughly $40 billion in funds that are needed for the troops. We provide $30.5 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We provide additional funding for training of Afghan and Iraqi soldiers. We provide $3.5 billion for defense health, a number of these items we are providing the President has not asked for. We are providing, for instance, for the full $3.1 billion for base realignment. That is money which he asked for last year, but not in this bill. We are also asking for $1.8 billion for veterans health care, which he did not ask for. We are asking for $2.2 billion for homeland security to strengthen our ports, our border and our cargo security. We are providing $660 million to defend this country against the flu pandemic, which could kill many more Americans than have died in Iraq if we get hit with that flu. This is money the administration itself asked for 2 years ago.”