David Obey

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…

Mr. Speaker, every single American will benefit from the passage of this bill. Every single American has benefited over the last generation from the passage of similar labor, health, education, and social services bills. Every American…

I do want to issue one warning because we have been told with respect to homeland security items, strengthening the FBI, giving greater security at the border, providing greater assistance to local public health officials in the event of…

I would appreciate it if the majority leader could respond to one question. As he knows, one of the contentious items still remaining is the final disposition of the supplemental, and the issue within that that is causing the most…

I certainly want to rise in support of this continuing resolution. I think the gentleman is correct. We are hoping that by a week from this coming Friday or Saturday someone will have found the off button for this Congress and will be able…

Mr. Speaker, the House has a decision to make today which in the real world would have a real effect on virtually every American. We have to face this question: Are we going to provide money now to tighten security on our borders, in our…

One cannot do both at the same time. Now, I sympathize with the gentleman, because I know he is personally in favor of what we are trying to do. So are many other Members on the Republican side of the aisle. They have told me that. His…

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman asked what this is about. It is very simple. What this is about is the fact that thousands of Americans died 3 months ago because the country was hit by terrorists in an unexpected way. What this is about is…

What is more important, to adhere to an artificially imposed $20 billion spending ceiling on national security-related items, or to do what we think is necessary today to deal with our vulnerabilities? We are told by the majority Members…

I think that they are most accurate and, to me, what it demonstrates is that, under the most optimistic assumptions, if the Senate could proceed virtually immediately to conclude its action on that bill, we are talking about at least a…

continuing under my reservation, I would like to ask the gentleman several questions. It is my understanding that the defense appropriations bill, and I do this because I think there are a lot of unrealistic expectations which are being…

I do not want to in any way prejudge this project because I do not know anything about it. But in light of some of the things that have happened today, I want to make some observations about this project. This project was brought before…

what happened to New York was a terrible thing. When it happened, I was one of the four people in this Congress who helped negotiate a $20 billion what I thought was a rock hard commitment to New York to deal with the problems. Since then…

Mr. Chairman, if I understand this correctly, this is what I refer to as a holy-picture amendment. The administration asked for 200-and-some million dollars for the Coast Guard. The bill before us cut it by $58 million. I tried earlier…

My amendment provides for full funding of the President's antiterrorism emergency supplemental spending request of $203 million for the Coast Guard to maintain its aggressive response to terrorist threats to our Nation's ports and…

the gentleman from Florida, Senator Byrd, Senator Stevens, and I were in a room negotiating that original $40 billion package after the events of September 11. We had agreed on about $32 billion, because we had assumed that it was going to…

I think the institution has experienced a great loss with the death of Fred Mohrman. He served this committee and this Congress for a good many years. He in fact served me for a brief period as staff director after I became chairman, and…

I will say flatly that there is an insufficient amount of money appropriated by this Congress to protect the safety of the American people from new weapons-grade nuclear material in the Soviet Union and elsewhere.

Yes, they have done it, on the cheap, Kmart style. The fact is that this bill contains $250 million less for cockpit security than the President recommended. It contains that lower amount of money because it added to the President's…

I think strengthening inspections on the Canadian border is something that should happen now, not later. I think that port security personnel should occur now. I think that upgrading computers at the FBI ought to occur now, not 6 or 8…

Mr. Chairman, what we have done at this point in the bill, and I sense a little confusion around here, what we have done is to conclude the core defense appropriation bill for the coming year. We are now moving on to the supplemental…

Mr. Speaker, the only delay that this vote has anything to do with is Tom DeLay. That is the only delay. We offered on this side of the aisle last week to take this bill up Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday if they would do one…

this country is now engaged in a two-front war. In Afghanistan itself, the war in many places seems to be going well. The President, the Pentagon, our intelligence agencies and other agencies are doing their job well. We also have a second…

I note and I am now reading from a story in the New York Times today which reads as follows: ``Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network held detailed plans for nuclear devices and other terrorist bombs in one of its Kabul headquarters. The Times…

That is exactly correct. What we are saying is that we believe that the President needs the added flexibility to have these funds available because of the crisis that we are in; and if he deems any of the items to be nonessential, he…