David Obey

Could the gentleman tell me, have there been any more labor leaders indicted lately than Members of Congress?

I would like to see once and for all the House put up or shut up on this issue. I would personally prefer there be no earmarks. But as chairman of the committee, I have an obligation to try to find that balance point in the House that…

Mr. Chairman, this issue is much ado about nothing. We have been subjected to filibuster by amendment all week, and now we are going to be subjected to 40 minutes of so-called debate on a nonexistent issue. Now, why is this issue here…

I won't take the time, let me just simply sum up very briefly. As the Chair knows, we've gone through the last 30 minutes debating a nonissue. The amendment has already been accepted by the committee. And I would expect that there will be…

Mr. Chairman, as someone of note said a long time ago, it will be little noted nor long remembered what we say here today. Certainly this has not been one of the most scintillating debates in the history of the Republic. But I do want to…

these agencies, these regulatory agencies in this bill, are not very well known by the American people, but I think this amendment is consistent with the efforts made by Republican Congresses in the past 25 years to slowly but surely…

I wonder if somebody could call the Attending Physician's office. I'm getting a bad case of whiplash here just listening to these arguments that run in opposite directions. I just heard the gentleman say a minute ago, and I must say, I'm…

Let me simply say, I would agree with the gentleman if his amendment was limited only to the money that we are appropriating to the District of Columbia. What I don't agree with is when we impose that same judgment on the use of their…

I recognize this specific discussion is aimed at Sarbanes-Oxley. But in fact I have been around here for awhile, and I know that this occurs in the context of a much broader and much more insidious pattern. The fact is if you take a look…

Members of this House have often heard me refer to my old friend, Archie the Cockroach, who is the philosopher I rely upon. And one of the things Archie said once is that ``an old stomach reforms more whiskey drinkers than does a new…

I will be happy to try to assist the gentleman in any way that makes clear that the authorizing committees need to act, because this is not a matter under the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee. I've only been around here 38…

I understand. And I'm more than willing to cooperate because, unlike some people in this Congress, I recognize this is all one country. And we've got an obligation to recognize different needs and different demands in different districts…

I understand. All I can say is, we did respond. We've just heard umpteen speakers on your side of the aisle kick the blazes out of us because they're saying we're spending too much money. And now you're telling us that you're unhappy…

let me simply point out, Mr. Speaker, that in addition to the fact that we have effectively endured filibuster by amendment by the minority for the past 3 weeks, in addition to that fact, we have two other practical facts to face. When we…

I certainly made no promise. We indicated that it was our plan and our intent. But I would point out we have had several hundred amendments offered by Members of the minority party. We have spent approximately twice as much time debating…

Let me simply say, I would not say that it's fair to characterize the authorizing committees as refusing to move. We have only been in charge of this Congress for the last 6 months, and there have been a few other basic priorities…

I would hope that there are no Members of this House who would engage in an act which would give hypocrisy a bad name by voting for this amendment, which in essence simply repeats existing law, and then use that as cover as an excuse to…

reclaiming my time, I think after that speech, there is absolutely no need to say anything more. The amendment says a whole lot more about the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) than it says about the Speaker of the House. Mr. Chairman, I…

I find it rather humorous that our good friends on the other side of the aisle would utter not one peep when this President decides to spend over $600 billion on a war in Iraq which he misled the country into, which he didn't have a clue…

I had not wanted to take any more time this evening, but I was in my office and I heard several silly suggestions that somehow bills like this are going to seriously add to the deficit and require a tax increase and all of that other…

I certainly have seen that concern expressed many times, and I would think the conferees would be interested in improving human rights records on Egypt's part with respect to all groups, including Coptic Christians.

In light of the fact that you and the other sponsors of the amendment have worked to narrow the scope of the amendment to just the funds that are involved to operations in the United States, the committee would be happy to accept the…

I would like to discuss two matters. The first is the question of congressional earmarks, and the second is the actual substance of this bill. We have seen much attention paid over the past several months to the practice of Congress…

the gentleman who just spoke has expressed a certain degree of unhappiness with the remarks that I made previously on the floor. I treasure his unhappiness. The fact is that when Harry Truman was President, he was out giving a speech one…

With all due respect, I take no responsibility for anything done by any authorizing committee.