David Obey: “the gentleman from Florida, Senator Byrd, Senator Stevens, and I were in a room negotiating that original $40 billion…”

“the gentleman from Florida, Senator Byrd, Senator Stevens, and I were in a room negotiating that original $40 billion package after the events of September 11. We had agreed on about $32 billion, because we had assumed that it was going to cost about $10 billion to $12 billion in New York. Then a note was passed into the room telling us that the President had personally guaranteed the New York delegation that he would provide, in this bill, $20 billion. Later on that evening, when some Senators tried to unravel the deal, those of us who were in the room putting that deal together again remember that at one point they suggested that we ought to substitute language 'up to $20 billion.' So I asked Mitch Daniels, the director of OMB, whether the language 'up to $20 billion' would meet the commitment that the President had made or whether the language needed to be '$20 billion,' period. He said the commitment was $20 billion, period. Now we are being told that New York ought to settle for less in this bill. So I guess I've finally got this figured out. The commitment to New York is going to be kept, the administration is going to keep its commitment, but I guess they believe in keeping their commitments on the installment plan. That is not the way we do business around here and engender trust. It is a shame. New York ought to get the full $20 billion. The gentlewoman is right to offer this amendment.…”