David Obey: “I would simply observe for the gentleman from Florida that many of my constituents would say that the Republic has never…”

“I would simply observe for the gentleman from Florida that many of my constituents would say that the Republic has never yet been harmed when a Member of Congress has been hoarse, but let me simply make some points about the issue at hand. Mr. Speaker, this body is an odd mixture of being both a legislative institution and a political institution. Sometimes I believe the fact that the cameras have come into this place have created all kinds of incentives for this place to be much more a political institution than it is a legislative institution, and I regret that. I also think that we have another problem in the House. Woodrow Wilson wrote in his famous book a long time ago that Congress did its work in committee, and in my view Congress does its best work in committee. And I think there is always a tension in a legislative and political body between efforts of the two parties to get their messages out and to get their will forced through the House, and, on the other hand, the efforts of the committees of the House to do the work of the House on behalf of every Member and on behalf of the country.”