David Obey: “In my view, Mr. Chairman, as far as I am concerned, the administration's position in support of MFN and in opposition to…”

“In my view, Mr. Chairman, as far as I am concerned, the administration's position in support of MFN and in opposition to this is irrelevant. I have an obligation to exercise my own judgment. The gentleman is free to characterize the position of the administration any way he wants. On this issue, I do not care what the administration thinks. I care about what I think is right, and what I think is right is not to exempt Exim from the budgetary squeeze that is befalling virtually every other agency in this bill. I also happen to think that they were right to turn down the project that the gentleman thinks they should have approved. I am not trying to get into policy questions on Exim I am simply trying to make the simple observation we should not be expanding their administrative expenses when we are cutting everybody else's. That is what my amendment does without getting into a premature argument on this.”