David Obey: “I take some pride in the fact that our friendship has withstood the context in which that friendship operates every day.…”

“I take some pride in the fact that our friendship has withstood the context in which that friendship operates every day. I think, frankly, that the unreal demands on the part of the power centers in this institution have put greater strains on our friendship than is the case with any other chair and ranking member in the House, and yet we remain good friends. Because I know that the gentleman is trying to do his duty, and I think he understands that I am trying to do mine, and I think we genuinely like each other and respect each other. But he is given the job of bringing some of the saddest pieces of legislation to this floor of anyone in the House, simply because he is denied the resources to meet our responsibilities to the citizens we represent. We had $6 trillion in surpluses when the majority party 2 years ago started passing out its tax cuts. We are now facing $2 trillion to $3 trillion in deficits over that same time frame. And on top of that, we are going to have to pay for Iraq, which will add a whole lot more than the $87 billion that we have been told about so far.”