David Obey

Mr. Speaker, what is happening here today is that the democratic processes in the institution that is supposed to represent the finest of democratic traditions in the world are being mutilated, and I want to explain what I mean by that…

let me make clear to the gentleman, if our amendment is passed, we are still substantially below the Republican budget resolution numbers. We do not exceed the amount dictated by the White House. We simply make sure that the money is used…

I was horrified to learn of Wayne Owens' death last week... He was a strongly religious man. He prided himself on being a Christian and he took the responsibilities that come with that very seriously. One of those responsibilities, in his…

I do not believe that to be the case at all, because nothing is more pitiful than a flock of politicians in full flight, and the fact is that politicians are scared green to vote against this legislation, despite the fact that it is…

Absolutely. As I said, a belated Christmas present to those who need help the most.

I find it quaint indeed that somehow, those of us who have tried for over a year to do substantially more to beef up our financial efforts against terrorism that somehow, our raising questions about the organization of that effort somehow…

I respect very much the majority leader's determination protecting the rights of each individual Member of this body, but I also think those Members have obligations. I am here today because I have serious reservations about proceeding…

That is correct. I guess the congressional slogan would be, ``Have a worried Christmas and an unhappy New Year.''

as a practical matter, the only thing that stands between providing these needed unemployment benefits, the only thing that stands between our doing that is the refusal to approve bringing the bill up by the House Republican leadership and…

Exactly, with one critical difference. The difference is that the people who are going to be helped by the unemployment compensation extension if we get our way, they need that help immediately. That is an immediate crisis for them…

let me simply say in addition to being educated at the University of Wisconsin, where he did receive a degree in political science, I would point out that I knew him before he worked here when he was a page in the Wisconsin Legislature…

I would simply point out to both of the gentlemen who have just spoken from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that I warned the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure before the election when we debated this that…

this is a pitiful exercise. Its arrogance is matched only by its futility and its hypocrisy. I think we ought to recount what is happening here and how we got here. Early last year, the majority party, at the insistence of the Committee on…

I am sorry, but earlier in my discussions I understated the amount by which the deficit will be expanded with the approval of the Congress with the subsequent motion that will follow from this rule. It is not just $30 billion. I am told it…

As he knows, this committee has been trying to convince the House leadership for months that with a few billion of additional allocation, we could produce appropriation bills that would produce very large bipartisan majority support in…

this motion will, as I said, provide increases to the following accounts: For veterans medical care it will provide a $2.4 billion increase; for the National Institutes of Health for bioterrorism and general research it will increase…

Mr. Speaker, I think Members will recall when we were sitting around here last February and March waiting for the President to send up the supplemental and talking about starting the appropriations bills after we got back from the spring…

Mr. Speaker, if I were the Federal budget, I would be saying to the Republican leadership of this House, ``Where's the rest of me?'' Because even though we have been in session since January, the only two appropriation bills that are going…

we hear from the other side of the aisle that it is the Senate's fault that we have not done our work. It has been 84 days since the House last considered an appropriation bill. We have been here for 84 days. Our number one job has been to…

The fact is that there are many Republicans and many Democrats who want to do right by the children of this country, and the fact is if the Committee on Appropriations had been allowed to proceed with its original plans, we would have…

virtually all of us want to go home. I think probably the only Member of this body who wants to stay here late into the evening, every evening, because he enjoys it so much, is the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha). But outside of…

Now, there may be a deal in the works to raise that number in the future. But the number we are voting on right now, in fact, contains a $4 billion reduction in what can be made available to States in comparison to the CR that we are…

Mr. Speaker, the fact is over the last 5 years we had average annual increases for education of almost 13 percent. That progress is being brought to a screeching halt. The dollar amount in aggregate is being frozen at last year's level…

what now? We have since Labor Day focused almost exclusively on Iraq, Iraq, and then Iraq. And then Iraq. We have now finally finished that business. And the average American family is sitting home and they are saying, ``You know, I wonder…

I am going to give the gentleman from Georgia my Alibi Ike of the Cosmos Award tonight for that speech. Let us put the record straight. The Senate has not passed three appropriation bills which the House has sent to it, the Legislative…