David Obey: “This bill started out as a bipartisan wartime supplemental supported by both parties. Then, as they had previously done…”

“This bill started out as a bipartisan wartime supplemental supported by both parties. Then, as they had previously done on so many other occasions, on patients' protection, on the energy bill, on airline security, on the Patriots Act, on pension reform and the welfare bill, the majority leadership decided to obliterate the legislative process. They discarded a bipartisan committee product, and they threw in unrelated partisan political items that characterized a full partisan agenda. They imposed a partisan unrelated budget resolution which pretends that they will spend $10 billion less next year than they are asking us to spend in this bill this year. They also slipped in without a vote a sleight-of-hand, hidden debt increase of $750 billion, and then they threw in enough special goodies for a few friends to get the votes to pass this shameful smorgasbord. They did it all to preserve their tax cut promises to the most well-off 2 percent of the population, promises that have turned surpluses into deficits as far as the eye can see, and deprived us of the dollars we need to strengthen Social Security and to make other crucial investments.”