David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, I certainly understand the motivation that leads the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn) to offer this…”

“Mr. Chairman, I certainly understand the motivation that leads the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn) to offer this amendment. It is ridiculous that this bill carries the $4.5 billion required to conduct the census as an emergency expenditure when the Constitution has told us since 1789 that we are going to have to be doing this every 10 years. I mean, I have heard of advance notice in my time, but I think that is about the longest. So I understand how ridiculous it is. That is why I asked the Committee on Rules to allow me to offer an amendment which would strike the emergency designation. We just heard a speech in the well saying that this is not an emergency and so this amendment should pass. The problem with this amendment is that it does not do what the debate would seem to indicate it does, because the amendment does not strike the emergency designation. It strikes the money to run the census. And that is an irresponsible thing to do. I do not, for the life of me, understand why we should take seriously the claim that this is an emergency.”