The Public Record
what the Ryan amendment says is that no matter how big the surpluses become in the future that you cannot spend a dime on veterans health care, you cannot spend a dime on education, you cannot spend a dime on cancer research. All you can…
Mr. Speaker, before any of us can speak on this floor, we first have to take an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. That Constitution was created by our Founding Fathers because they had a huge suspicion of power…
Every day we recognize the fact that Congress cannot bind future Congresses in terms of the action that they will take. But if we pass this legislation today, we are enabling future presidents to bind future Congresses, because if we pass…
I often quote my friend Archie the cockroach, and Archie said once, ``Did you ever notice when a politician does get an idea, he gets it all wrong?'' I think that can be said of the remedy that is being proposed for the budget process…
Mr. Chairman, absolutely the budget process is broken. The problem is that what is being proposed today will make it even worse. The major argument that is being used for adopting this proposal is that too much time is spent in the budget…
I flatly disagree with those who say we do not need substantially more land acquisition. We are going to have 35 million more people knocking on the doors of national parks in 10 years and we need to buy a lot more land in order to…
it is a joke to hear Members of the party that tried to blow up Social Security for 30 years now pretending that they are defending it. I would like to just make two points: It has been suggested that our comments with respect to National…
There were three main issues associated with this conference. First, should we add $4.1 billion to defense spending, increasing overall spending by that amount, and reducing the surplus by that amount? The conference said ``yes'' to that…
I would like to correct the statement of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns). He said that I supported the supplemental when I was chairman. There never was a supplemental appropriation bill when I was chairman, so the gentleman is…
I find that incredibly troubling. Perhaps it was fortunate we did not take this up last night so we have had a chance to reread the gentleman's amendment. What appeared to be innocent last night, absent the presidential waiver, would be…
I would like to ask the author of the amendment a question, please. Last night, I had thought that I was going to be supporting this amendment, but I have a question. The House adopted last night a human rights amendment which had a…
I said that I supported the core bill yesterday which had the additional money for reimbursement for Pentagon costs to fix the health care problems at the Pentagon and those other items, but I did not support the $4 billion add-on because…
let me say what my friend, Archie the Cockroach would observe: It is important to have a sense of proportion. What sense is there for a flea to fall in love with an elephant?
This motion would require the Committee on Appropriations to report a new supplemental bill that includes $262 million for the Office of National Drug Control Policy for purposes of distributing grants to State, local, or national…
You bet. It is an outrageous breaking of the bank. But you are going after a gnat instead of an elephant.
As someone who was here during the El Salvador debate, not as a Member, but as a staffer, I saw firsthand how Congress trivialized the human rights issue with the passage of the so-called El Salvador certification language. The words in…
the gentleman said that everyone agreed with us on the need for more drug treatment. Then I would ask why did the gentleman vote for a rule that prevented us from being able to provide this drug treatment?
I do not care how Members vote on this amendment. This amendment is a big nothing. It does not do anything for anybody, does not do anything to anybody. It simply takes money which is in the Treasury and puts it in the Treasury. That is…
I am not voting for this turkey. They may be planning to. I would also say that what I really think this amendment is about is this. There is an amendment coming later today which will take $4 billion in regular appropriations for the…
Mr. Chairman, the former governor of Texas, Ann Richards, observed once that you can dress up a pig, and you can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig. I think that is sort of the case that we are faced with here this afternoon…
Mr. Chairman, last week, the majority party in this House posed for political holy pictures and promised spending discipline and bragged about how much spending they were going to cut. This week they have brought to the floor this bill…
Mr. Chairman, the issue is not whether we should fight drugs. We should. The issue is what is the most effective way to do that. The issue is not whether we like the president of Colombia. I do. The question is whether his country, his…
Mr. Chairman, if this bill were not so serious, I would think it is a joke. Once again, the United States is proposing a huge military alliance with the foreign military known for its human rights abuses. Now, you think we would have…
if Members want to know why the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is unhappy, just recognize this: The majority runs this institution. The majority wrote this bill. They used the Budget Act then to fence out amendments. Out of the 14…
Mr. Chairman, at the end of last year, the President had asked for $568 billion in appropriated spending, and Congress had approved $578 billion. In this supplemental as it now comes before us, the President has asked for additional funds…
Politicians like David Obey
