David Obey

I have attended a lot of briefings that I have never seen you at, with the CIA, the Homeland Security Agency, and a number of others.

Mr. Chairman, what has happened on this bill is that after the four disasters that have been referred to this evening, the committee did what we did after the Congress was hit by anthrax a number of years ago. The committee went around to…

I want to make one point: that I speak not as the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Appropriations, but simply as a Member of Congress from Wisconsin. One of the deficiencies with this rule is that it does not allow for an amendment to…

Mr. Chairman, what is happening on this floor tonight is blatant, obvious, raw politics. That is all it is. The Republican majority leadership is bringing a bill to the floor which has over $10 billion in aid to various areas of the…

Mr. Speaker, I think, as the gentleman has so aptly indicated already, the best way that this bill can be described is to put it in the terms that the old Bowery Boys used to say in those B movies many years ago when we were both kids…

if Members oppose this motion to recommit, they will deny 28,165 renovated homes for military families throughout the military housing privatization initiative. If they oppose this motion to recommit, they will deny many of America's…

Mr. Speaker, the basic job of Congress is to pass the annual budget and appropriation bills in order to keep the government running and to fund the most important functions of government. To do that under our processes, we are first…

I would just observe the gentleman said this is a good bill. There is not anything left of this bill except the enacting clause; that is in great shape. Outside of that, it is a hollow shell.

I am not about to go on record voting for a bill which has cut these bills, in essence, almost 80 percent below last year's level in terms of transportation items. I have seen the majority party's campaign committee play games with that…

the issue is very simple. When someone who lives in Florida wants to go to his wife's funeral or visit a family Member who is deathly sick, the question is whose judgment should prevail, the judgment of that individual constituent or the…

I am sure they care about politics, but I am sure they do not care for the fact that some Members of this House seem to care more about politics than they do those Cuban families.

I found the gentleman's response interesting, Mr. Speaker. He starts to talk about taxes. This bill and my position on it has nothing whatsoever to do with taxes. It has everything to do with the fact that the leadership on your side of…

I would simply like to assure the gentleman of my agreement with his comments. I think that we have become incredibly arrogant in assuming that we have conquered these virus-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. In fact, we are…

I wish we were at the stage in this country where we could provide every child with the opportunity to be screened, so that we can catch ahead of time developing problems and help families who otherwise have nowhere to turn.

the CRS memo states that the general rule requiring publication of a final rule not less than 30 days before its effective date may likewise be voided ``as otherwise provided by the agency for good cause found and published with the…

let me simply say, I understand the gentleman is trying to make a point, but the fact is, as the sponsor of the amendment, I will state categorically that legally the administration has the authority to reimpose those regulations within 1…

we now have 8 million people out of work. There are 3 million people that have been out of work so long that they have lost their unemployment benefits, and the majority party in this Congress has steadfastly refused to allow us to do…

Mr. Chairman, there are now more than 8 million people out of work in this country; 3 million have been out of work for so long they have exhausted their unemployment compensation benefits. We have more than 1.5 million fewer private…

I react to the gentleman's numbers with a touch of humor because the argument he makes is similar to the child who kills his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan. The fact is if you look at the…

The fact is that this House has to make a choice. Do we think it is essential to provide a $120,000 tax cut to people making over $1 million a year; or do we think that we ought to use some of that money to provide better opportunity for…

Mr. Chairman, this Labor, Health and Education bill is supposed to be that portion of the budget which invests in our children, which opens the door of opportunity for young people, which opens the door to the doctor's office or to the…

While this bill is a modest improvement over the President's budget request, it fails to meet America's needs in education, health care, medical research, and human services. The bill's inadequacies, however, are not the fault of the…

a few minutes ago we heard one of the speakers on the majority side of the aisle talk about this bill in terms of being a bill which meets our promises. I am not quite sure what bill she was referring to, but it certainly could not have…

I am confident we will find overwhelming support in the House for this measure. I am certain it will be bipartisan to a very great degree. I certainly expect to be voting for it. I would simply make one observation in the process, however…

Mr. Chairman, I would simply observe that no two people in this House have worked harder to keep partisanship or any other illegitimate consideration out of this issue than have the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) and the…