David Obey

Mr. Chairman, we are being told that this amendment violates NAFTA. That is like the old song that we hear so many times about the person killing both of his parents and then throwing himself on the mercy of the court because he is an…

I simply want to rise to express my opposition to this rule because of its failure to include the right of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Sabo) to offer his amendment on truck safety. Very simply, what his amendment seeks to do is to…

I flatly dispute that, and I want to read something then ask the gentleman a question. This is the text of the original Sabo amendment which the majority blocked from consideration in the House today. It reads as follows: ``No funding…

The record for Canadian carriers shows that their highway safety record is virtually every bit as good as ours. The record with respect to the Mexican drivers in question demonstrates quite the opposite.

What the Sabo amendment attempted to do is to say that there would be no Mexican trucks on these roads until the safety requirements were met as outlined in the amendment. I think it is blatantly ridiculous for anyone to assert that the…

the only option we have is to adopt this amendment, because this is the only procedural alternative left to us by a rule that prevented us from offering the amendment that should have been offered on this subject. So do not blame us for…

no one in this House has been a more longstanding supporter of the weatherization program than I have, but this amendment deserves to be defeated. I oppose it on two grounds: First of all, we had a major victory in the committee on the…

there is no reason, other than an ideological one, to oppose this amendment. As has been already pointed out, the Endowment for the Arts as recently as 1995 was funded at $170 million level. This amendment simply seeks to fund it at $115…

Mr. Chairman, let me repeat again, this amendment increases a program which we have already increased by 63 percent. It cuts fossil fuels which we have already cut by 4 percent. There is nothing wrong with research for more efficient power…

this amendment has as much to do with energy as it has to do with my dead dog. All it is is an effort to try to get a second kick at the cat and thereby eliminate a fairly won decision to increase funding for the arts. For those of you who…

That is my interpretation as well, but the language of section 1010 and its cross-reference to section 1001 are sufficiently convoluted, that it has been helpful to make this clarification at this time. I appreciate the gentleman making…

I still am experiencing some laryngitis, but I want to take a moment to comment on this bill. It is certainly not a perfect bill. And I believe it needs more funding for both arts and energy research and several other programs, but I…

This Congress may have met its responsibilities to FEMA in the past, but right now it is playing let us pretend with this rescission.

it takes no courage to vote for this bill today. All it takes is a capacity to ignore the greatest opportunity we have had in a generation to really fundamentally improve the quality of public services for every American family. It is…

this is not an accounting debate, this is a debate about the future of this country. I believe that every American ought to get a tax cut, and the kind of tax cut that I favor is one that will not eat up so much of the surpluses that there…

this resolution is a disgrace. I do not agree with every aspect of the rule that OSHA adopted; but if one disagrees with it, the proper way to change it is to have the Department of Labor propose changes, have an open hearing and comment…

I would like to at this point engage the chairman of the committee in a colloquy on the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, which I hope will address the concerns many Members have regarding the lack of an advanced appropriation for…

I have no other requests to speak on this turkey, and so I yield back the balance of my time.

Julian Dixon was one of those people who almost reveled in functioning anonymously in this House. He took jobs that were behind the scenes. Chairing the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was not a publicity-seeking job; serving as…

I yield myself 7 additional minutes. Mr. Speaker, I really believe that, what is happening both on this Labor, Health, Education bill and on the subject that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant) just mentioned is a true test of our…

I will certainly be here every day from now until the cows come home, if necessary, to get an agreement. I feel I have full authority on my side at this point to negotiate. I would like to know whether the gentleman yet feels that he has…

I yield myself 15 minutes. Mr. Speaker, we are supposed to have our appropriations work done by October 1. We obviously do not have that work done. As I said yesterday, that is not unique. That has happened often in Congress. But I think…

No, Mr. Speaker, I do not in any way believe there was an agreement reached at $107 billion. I know absolutely for a fact that there was not an agreement reached. The White House denies that there was an agreement reached at that number…

I am starting at the conference agreement that we reached agreement on and shook hands on and toasted with Merlot, as the gentleman knows. I am willing to come down from that.

this is indeed Groundhog Day over and over and over and over again. As I think most Members understand, we were supposed to have our budget work done by October 1. It is not rare that we do not. That has often happened in the history of…