David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, our job as Members of Congress is, first of all, to define differences and then to try to find resolution…”

“Mr. Chairman, our job as Members of Congress is, first of all, to define differences and then to try to find resolution to those differentials. There are a number of items in the appropriation bills which are always subject to being stricken on a point of order, but they are usually included because they are necessary to build the kind of consensus that one has to have to pass bills like this. The committee knew, for instance, that we had an emergency with government computers with the year 2000 problem that our computer manufacturers have tossed in our lap, and the committee tried to deal with that in a responsible way. But the rebels in the Republican caucus blew that agreement up, and so we had a rule which will allow that to be stricken. On the issue of contraception involving Federal employee insurance, again we had a bipartisan committee consensus on that issue, but the rebels in the Republican caucus did not like that, so they have blown up that agreement.”