David Obey: “Mr. Speaker, this is a sad bill. There are countless good reasons to vote against it. In fact, this bill is a poster…”

“Mr. Speaker, this is a sad bill. There are countless good reasons to vote against it. In fact, this bill is a poster child for institutional failure. That is true for several reasons. First of all, because the nine appropriation bills which are wrapped into this early Thanksgiving turkey should have been dealt with by the House months ago. Secondly, it is totally inadequate to meet the Nation's needs in education, health care, and the environment. It falls so far short from meeting our investment obligations for the future that it could only be brought to the floor by the majority party after the election. Third, there are things that have been added in this omnibus bill which have never been voted on by anybody. Some of them are reasonable; some of them certainly are not. An example, Republicans chose to take this opportunity to slip a number of anti-environmental provisions into this bill which I will list in full in my extended remarks. Fourth, the Republicans have taken out several provisions that were supported by the majority of this body and should have been retained.”