David Obey

What we have heard on this floor for years on this subject is that we should not fund amendments like this simply because at some time in the past the arts program was not perfect. Well, I grant that. But for how we ought to view them…

I am somewhat bemused as I sit here tonight listening to some of the comments about the sanctity of open debate and legislative alternatives. Some of the same people who have been uttering those platitudes are the same people who voted to…

I simply want to note, since we have heard of this so-called spending spree that the Committee on Appropriations is engaging in, I want to simply note that since 1980 through today, the percentage of our total national income which we…

I fully support it. I am especially pleased by the funding level for the new conservation trust fund, which is consistent with the agreement that was first worked out on that item 3 years ago when we converged with the Senate in…

our best professional judgment about what the realistic level is that Members want to see provided in this bill. Now, we may have been on point. We may have missed it a little bit. Who knows? Nobody is perfect. But the fact is that I think…

I simply want to say, a lot more money will be required in the future, not just in Wisconsin but in a number of States around the country. We will have to deal with this as a national problem, because it is a national problem.

this is a bipartisan bill. It is a bipartisan rule. Both ought to be supported. The bill itself will pass overwhelmingly after the House is finished disposing of it. I want to congratulate all of those who had anything to do with putting…

I know my good friend from Florida, the chairman of the committee, and I do not think that he is any happier to have to fight this war on terrorism, at least in terms of resources, with one hand tied behind his back, any more than I am…

Mr. Speaker, the motion to instruct conferees directs the House Members serving on the conference to convert what has been all too often merely a rhetorical assault on terrorism into a real war. It requires that we go to the higher dollar…

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…

I want to explain one other reason that we need to adopt this amendment. We discovered, and we discussed with the Attorney General in the hearing, the fact that up until September 11, the Justice Department appeared insistent on…

this is simply a technical correction to do the same thing for Intelligence that we just did for the Guard and Reserve.

I note one comment the previous speaker just made, that we should not return to issues upon which we have already voted. The problem is that we have not yet explicitly voted on this provision. This provision was never presented to us in a…

Mr. Chairman, what this amendment does is to take away the President's line item veto authority of the money that this bill contains to fund full mobilization for the Guard and Reserve. As I indicated earlier, we had been told that one of…

The problem is this, if the gentleman would continue to yield: The rule added section 1403 to this bill, and that section has the language to which the gentleman refers on the full faith and credit of the government. That was not included…

evidently what we have going on here is that we not only have faux legislation, we now also have faux debate. We are not having debate here. We have got members of the other side giving speeches without being willing to engage in…

Let me simply say that what the gentleman says about the need to be together on the war is absolutely correct. And we have been. And this committee has been. We were together on the first $40 billion supplemental that passed immediately…

I find it interesting that apparently the tactic on the other side is going to be to have speakers get up and make erroneous statements that have nothing whatsoever to do with the truth or the facts, and then refuse to debate that issue by…

Mr. Speaker, we all come here individually as politicians, and as we are assigned committees, as we develop expertise on substance, we become legislators, rather than mere politicians. On the Committee on Appropriations, I think it is safe…

Mr. Chairman, I wanted to first of all congratulate the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young), for doing his usual good job in trying to produce a bipartisan bill. As members of the committee know, our committee…

My point is, I understand that is a legitimate concern, but my point is another concern. I am concerned about putting the integrity of the Federal budget process in jeopardy, and my problem is that when we are told that the loan that was…

I would like to suggest the answer to the gentleman is that the only reason at this point that this is in here with this outlandish estimate is to make the bill look like it is paid for when it is not. This $1.3 billion savings, in my…

I do not seek to pursue an evenhanded resolution. Mr. Arafat by his conduct does not deserve it. But this resolution makes all of its requests of the Palestinians, and none of Israel. It says nothing about the obligation of both parties…

Oh, little town of Bethlehem, we witness and we cry, Israelis and Palestinians, both practice eye for eye. Made blind by rage and terror, they make a just God cry, and crush the hopes of all the years while still more children die. Our…

I simply want to say that I think what this bill demonstrates is that when committees are allowed to work in a substantive way, casting aside ideology or political views, the result is good for the country, and it is good for this…