David Obey: “I do not intend to use all the time, but let me yield myself such time as I may consume to simply recount what is…”

“I do not intend to use all the time, but let me yield myself such time as I may consume to simply recount what is happening here. When this bill first came to the floor, a number of us warned at the time that if the rule was adopted for the consideration of the bill, and if the bill was passed, we would set in motion a series of events that would be totally unpredictable. The bill did not tell us how the overage, above the amount allowed in the budget that this Congress so vociferously adopted last year, the bill did not tell us how that overage would be paid for; it left it silent. We warned at the time the bill was being considered that there were rumors that it would be paid for by reductions in veterans' health care; we warned that there were also rumors that it might be paid for, in part, by eliminating the President's education initiatives, and we urged Members not to vote for a bill until they knew where the money was coming from to pay for it. The House disregarded those warnings and they voted for the bill. Now, we are being told by many sources that the conferees in fact do intend to pay for the excess above the amount allowed in last year's budget agreement by in fact directing scoring on this veterans' health care item, and therefore, they intend to pay for approximately $16 billion in highway funds by the same long-term cutbacks in veterans' health care.”