Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 3082) making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, it is my understanding from prior conversations with the gentleman from Colorado (Mr.

Polis) that it would be his idea we would take the minimum amount of time, and I appreciate him yielding the customary 30 minutes to me and trying to work through the loads so we are able to get home.

I would like to inquire of the gentleman if he has any further speakers that he would anticipate at this time on his side.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, today is a historic day, also, as two of the stalwarts of this House of Representatives perhaps are here tonight to argue as chairman and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee on behalf of not only themselves, their committee, but also the teams they represent. The gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) perhaps will be on the floor tomorrow, I don't know, but tonight I will be here, and I would like to recognize the service that Mr. Obey has given the United States Congress. I have been with Mr. Obey over a number of times in the last 14 years up in the Rules Committee. I have seen him very early in the morning and very late in the day. Mr. Obey has presented himself not only in a professional manner, but represented his party and its thoughts very well. It would be my hope I would be able to offer a warm hand and extension to him to say: Job well done, sir.

Also, on my side, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) will be on the floor in just a few moments as they present this final spending package, the CR. Mr. Lewis has been a very dear

friend of mine over the years. He has been very gracious about hearing the activities I believe are important, including those of the gentlewoman from Wisconsin who sits in the chair tonight as the Speaker pro tempore, for issues related to sight, retinal issues, and the ability we have to create a better life for those who have lost their sight. Mr. Lewis has been very responsive to not only this Member but also to others in this body in dealing with health issues, understanding that research and development is a key part of technology in medical breakthroughs for people who count on us making wise choices with how we spend people's money.

So I would want to extend to both of these gentlemen thanks for a job well done, knowing that tonight they will be ready to go home for Christmas and the holidays.

Madam Speaker, the Republican Party finds itself in the position where we are here on the floor just a few days before Christmas. The gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis) has outlined the exact need of not only this administration but, I believe, forthrightly, the American people and certainly this Congress, the ability to make sure that we act responsibly, that we provide the funding that is necessary. The President of the United States has asked for this. The President of the United States has a constitutional authority to move forward, and I believe that that is a rational argument.

The Republican Party finds itself in a circumstance where we have attempted, for quite some time, to bring to the attention of the majority what we believe is an overriding need to cut the amount of spending that is taking place by the United States Congress. I believe it has created excessive not only spending, a bloated government, and an inadequate ability by the free enterprise system to get out of the way of government; that a government that is empowered to roll over the free enterprise system and individuals who are in the marketplace perhaps, also. In the scheme of things, the Republican Party is worried about the future of this country and what our children and our grandchildren will have to pay with a monster debt that looms over us.

I recognize, I think the entire country recognizes, that this debt, the doubling and tripling of debt that is underway, came as a result of a political opportunity with the Democratic Party by the President, the House, and the Senate to collectively determine that they were going to go and increase spending in a dramatic basis.

The Republican Party, through myself as the Rules Committee person, recognizes that we, once again, are here on the floor of the House of Representatives at the late hour, even though I believe what is inevitable is here with this continuing resolution to say, We believe there should have been a better effort on behalf of this majority to substantially review not only the excessive spending but to put into place those stopgap measures which would prove to the American people that Washington, D.C., does get it.

What we need to get is this: as we loom and roll forward in the future, another debt limit opportunity vote that means that we will have to take the tough votes here on this floor and raise that debt limit so that we are as responsible as we are tonight, what has been described by Mr. Polis, about making sure the government funds itself.

The Republican Party believes we should have immediately last year when we recognized not only continued unemployment, massive debt, have done something about stopping the spending. We spend about $4.5 billion too much every day, more than what comes in. And that $4.5 billion is important. When you add it all up, it amounts to about 40 percent of all of the spending going to debt.

So we don't have to yell and scream. We have to succinctly come to the floor. We have to protect the turf that we believe is best for the American people, and that is, I will tell you, on January 5 when we elect a new Speaker and the Republican Party becomes the majority, we pledge ourselves to having not only the ideas about how to turn this country around, but I believe we will have the guts to make tough votes. And we will ask the American people to listen and look at every single vote we make.

Today, we are kicking the can down the road. Today, I guess we are ready to go home. The Republican Party is here to say, We disagree. We think every dollar and every penny that is being spent to the detriment of the future of this country is a problem. So that's what we are doing here today.

I appreciate the gentlewoman not only for her efforts of tireless sitting in the chair today, but I also recognize our leaders, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis). I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis) and wish him the very best of holiday seasons.

Madam Speaker, just this morning, I stood right here to do a rule and pointed out that my democrat colleagues continue to use an unprecedented, restrictive, and closed process on the House floor, and here I am again to tell the same story. In fact, this is the third Continuing Resolution rule I have done this month.

Week after week my friends on the other side of the aisle continue to bull-dose their massive spending agenda through the floor of the House with no Republican input, and no regular order.

What was promised to be the most ``open, honest and ethical'' Congress by Speaker Pelosi when she took the gavel, has been the most closed, and one-sided Congress in history. The American people asked for changes in 2008 and they got something far worse. They received a Democrat Congress that doesn't listen to the American people, and a Congress that acts on their own interest and not the interest of the American taxpayer.

Madam Speaker, in two weeks that will change. But until then, I am here to discuss another closed rule for another Continuing Resolution. The legislation before us continues to overspend--a common theme over the last two Congresses.

The underlying legislation is a CR to keep the government running for 2 months. The Democrats provided no budget for this year and the President has not signed one appropriations bill into law--so this legislation and rule is just another tactic to keep the government running until the Majority can kick the responsibility to the Republicans next Congress.

Over the past three years, non-defense, non-homeland security, and non-veterans affairs discretionary spending has increased by a staggering 88 percent. In the meantime, the Nation's debt has risen to $13.5 trillion, there have been yearly record deficits since the Democrats took the Majority, and the unemployment rate has been at or above 9.5 percent for 18 consecutive months.

This CR does almost nothing to reverse this trend and instead continues the unsustainable, high rate of spending passed the Democrat Majority this year. This includes more spending for many federal agencies that received massive increases with the Democrat Stimulus bill in 2009. My Republican colleagues and I have pledged to cut non-security spending back the fiscal year 2008 levels which would save American taxpayers nearly $100 billion in the first year.

The American people are fed-up with the tax, borrow and spend policies of the past 4 years, which has brought nothing but unemployment, debt and deficit. Americans have called for an end to reckless spending and a new era of fiscal discipline, yet it continues to fall on deaf ears here today. This country needs leaders that are willing to make the tough fiscal decisions that will provide economic stability and job growth, not just more of the same.

In true fashion, my democrat colleagues continue to push their own agenda on the American people. They have shut out Republicans over the past 4 years, and they continue to shut out the American people. Continuing on the path of reckless government spending, will only put the U.S. further in debt burdening future generations. Congress must do better for the American people. I oppose this rule.

Madam Speaker, you have heard me say it over and over, but the American people we promised an ``open, honest and ethical'' Congress, and that is not what they have received. Congress only received the text of this legislation a few hours ago. American's have called for transparency and bipartisanship and have only seen a secretive dictatorship.

I ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule. Vote no to stop the reckless fiscal policies that Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have pursued over the last 4 years. It is time to end the idea of big government and big spending.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his leadership, and I want to take this opportunity to express on the floor of the House my appreciation to Chairman Obey for his years of service. We have had opportunities to thank him personally, but I wanted the Record to reflect that this may be his last CR, and I don't want to misspeak because I know that he finds ways to do good so we may see him again, but I do want to express my appreciation. And I also want to recognize his partner, the ranking member, Mr. Lewis, as well.

I want to acknowledge that this is something we have to do to keep the government open, so I wanted to express my appreciation and my concern. First of all, let me go to the Transportation Security Administration. I am the subcommittee chair on the Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee. It is interesting as we near the holiday, Christmas coming on Saturday, we are reminded certainly of the Christmas Day bomber of 2009. So as millions of Americans are now traveling and will continue to travel through this holiday season to gather with friends and family, domestically and internationally, we recognize the importance of providing transfer authority for TSA to allow for efforts against terrorist attacks such as what occurred in the Northwest Flight 253 and the recent attempts against all cargo.

In addition, we recognize the importance of increased staff. This is the holiday time. There will be overtime, and we want to make sure that all of the levels of intensity, of ramping up are provided for, and I am very grateful that this CR chose to do that.

Additionally, many of us have heard from our small businesses, and this will prevent the elimination of funding of reduced loans for small businesses.

I want to raise something very quickly. I am a supporter of providing qualified teachers for our inner city schools, and even had a daughter work for a group called Teach for America. These are outstanding and well-informed individuals. I raise a question, because my district is dominated by inner city schools, of the change of definition of ``highly qualified teacher'' that would include those in the Teach for America, that a recent graduate, does that in fact eliminate our experienced teachers, that is, take away from the training of those experienced teachers? I would raise that concern.

Finally, I close by simply saying I view this as an important step, but I am disappointed we had to go this route and we could not look to a rational response to the work that so many of us have done. Some may call them earmarks. I call them designations of funding in cooperation, collaboration with our executive.

It is a tragedy that, for example, a group that houses victims of human trafficking will not be able to be responded to, or a group that deals with those who are trying to rebuild their lives as ex-offenders will not get funding and that infrastructure projects will not get funding. Let me remind my colleagues, you don't save money; you just hand it over to the executive and it finds its way in some other direction.

I am delighted we stand here today, continue to have the government work, and I appreciate the great work that was done for the CR.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2011. This measure will continue to assure funding for all Federal Government agencies and allow the Government to continue its day to day operations through March 4, 2011, provided under Public Law 111-242, the first fiscal year 2011 Continuing Resolution (CR).

This Continuing Resolution will basically fund the Government at levels previously approved by the House for fiscal year 2010. It is of great importance that this Congress continues to decide how best to finalize fiscal year 2011 spending and explore ways to equitably decrease the national deficit.

As a Member of Congress, it is a critical constitutional responsibility to assure continued funding streams for the Federal Government. This Continuing Resolution will ensure that all necessary and key functions of Government will continue unimpeded until Congress finalizes our work with the passage of final appropriations legislation. There have been a few exceptions, but at least one Continuing Resolution has been enacted for each fiscal year since 1955.

As we rapidly approach the holiday season, and the end of the year is only 10 days away, there is no greater business before this chamber than keeping our Federal Government up and running. Especially during this crucial time of transition, the citizens of the United States are depending upon us to keep the Federal Government fully operational. We must provide a sense of certainty and stability as our country continues to recover from recession and remains engaged in two wars abroad.

I must say that I am very disturbed that we cannot get our colleagues to cooperate in a bi-partisan manner to pass essential appropriations bills and must instead resort to short-term continuing resolutions. However, with the funding for all Federal agencies and programs set to expire at midnight tonight, it is imperative that we pass this Continuing Resolution. It is crucial that we continue to fund Government agencies and programs without interruption. We must keep this Nation moving forward toward progress.

In recent days and months, unnecessary partisan battles in both chambers have been waged over expenditures included in appropriations measures. Partisan finger-pointing and squabbling have hindered the passage of appropriations bills and had a negative impact on our economic recovery. This Continuing Resolution has suffered the same fate. I would like to remind all of my colleagues that appropriations are built-in by law to permit Members of Congress to identify and provide funding for useful and necessary projects in their districts. Specifically, in my home district of Houston, I fought hard to include in the Continuing Resolution, a total of $175,595,558 in appropriations funding for fiscal year 2011.

These projects create jobs, rebuild our infrastructure and benefit our districts, our States and our country, as well. Though I recommended funding for critical transportation and infrastructure projects in Houston, Texas, unfortunately this funding was excluded from the Continuing Resolution. Though an opportunity to improve our national economy was lost, I will continue to fight for the funding of such useful, necessary and economically productive projects in Houston and support the funding of these types of projects nationwide.

Overall, the Continuing Resolution will generally benefit the citizens of Houston and the entire country by continuing to fund important government programs without interruption. As we move forward, it is my hope that both chambers in the House and Senate will take a bipartisan approach to moving vitally important appropriations legislation which includes useful, necessary, job creating and economy- building projects from our districts. This is the fiscally responsible course and grows and strengthens our economy in the long run.

In summation, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this Continuing Resolution as we continue the work of the Federal Government.

Madam Speaker, I rise, not to talk about the continuing resolution that is before us, but in praise of the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the chair of the Appropriations Committee. And this, hopefully, will be the last piece of legislation, not that hopefully it's your last, but hopefully it's the last that this body will hear from the Appropriations Committee. And I want to take the time on this bill to express the gratitude of our colleagues in the House, to the people of our country who care about America's working families, and to all who care about a world at peace, to thank Mr. Obey for his tremendous leadership. I rise to celebrate his career and the contributions. I think he is one of the greatest appropriators and one of Congress' greatest legislative minds.

For more than four decades he has fought in favor on this floor for the people of the Wisconsin seventh district and for America's middle class. He is a visionary for a better life for the American people and a legislative genius. He has an ability to see around corners, anticipate challenges and opportunities, and sustain a fight on behalf of what is right.

I had the privilege of serving on the Appropriations Committee under the leadership of Dave Obey. He was my chairman on the full committee and on Labor, Health and Human Services, and he was chair for a long time of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations, which appropriated our foreign aid. To that committee, the Foreign Ops Committee, he brought the values of middle America to our foreign policy. Values-based, people-oriented, again, in the interest of our national security, the strength of our country and recognizing that that strength was also about our values.

He then chaired the Health and Human Services Subcommittee, where he measured the strength of our country in another way, in the health, the education, the economic well-being of America's working families. To see him operate on that committee was to see a master at work. We use that phrase from time to time. In the case of Dave Obey, it is an understatement. I sometimes think, when he's working, of the phrase, you'll understand when you understand, because when David sees so far down the road from the rest of us, sometimes we're not quite up there with him, and then he is always right. I don't know whether he's a self-fulfilling prophecy or he's just always right from the start.

For nearly half a century, from demanding open committee hearings, more transparency in our caucus, ethics reform, he has been an unyielding and unflinching reformer.

Mr. Obey, again, as I've said, was my chairman and, as a chairman, he had no parallel. He refused to allow measures designed to harm our air, water, and environment into the Federal budget. And after 9/11, he reached across the aisle to secure funding for first responders and the recovery effort and to extend our investment in homeland security.

Of course he championed Federal investments in education, and devoted his energy to making health insurance a right, not a privilege for all. And it was a special privilege for all of us here to see Dave Obey gavel down the health care reform bill. It is a well-deserved privilege for him, a recognition by his colleagues in the House that he was the one who should do that.

In every hearing in his committee, and with every vote, Chairman Obey sought to strengthen the middle class, and he acted on the belief that how we invest the public's money reflects our values as a people and will determine the future of our country.

The reach of Mr. Obey's achievements has extended nationwide. But his first priorities have always been for the families, the workers, the businesses, and the communities of his beloved district.

LIHEAP, for one. We always knew how important low-income--LIHEAP is a term of art here, and Dave Obey has been a great champion for it, as he has been for Pell Grants and other initiatives that affect America's working families. But the aspirations of his constituents, their hopes, their challenges, that was his call to action.

Chairman Obey's official biography opens with these words: ``Every American who works hard should be able to fully share in the bounty of America, and so should their families.'' This has been Dave Obey's mission statement. He has been a transformational figure in Congress. His leadership on behalf of the American people, as I said, is unsurpassed.

He has been blessed by a wonderful family. And we all are grateful to his wife, Joan, and his sons for sharing David with us. We also want to salute his staff person, his staff director, Beverly Pheto, for her leadership and her excellent work, and some might say, her patience with this great mind.

I just have to tell one story on Dave Obey because I just love it so much.

Dave Obey, as I mentioned, was the Chair of the Foreign Ops Subcommittee. Some years later, after Charlie Wilson was chair in that, I had the privilege of becoming the ranking member on that committee, no longer in the majority. So when we went to the floor for the first bill that we were managing, that I was managing on the minority side, I was very prepared and ready and wanted to please David.

So I made my case, we won our amendments. I see Congresswoman Lowey is here who now chairs the Foreign Ops Committee. And after we won our amendments, it was very bipartisan then. It wasn't that confrontational.

But, in any event, after it was finished, and the job was done, I looked to David for some sign of something, at least that it was over. And David said to me, You did all right, but I think you could have been more diplomatic.

Now, hearing Dave Obey tell me I should be more diplomatic, well, David, of all the things he is known for, diplomacy is not among them. And that happened to be on the heels of running into Barney Frank on my way to the rostrum to manage the bill. He said to me, That suit you have on, give it away. It looks terrible on you.

And I thought, In 1 day, I have gotten fashion advice from Barney Frank and diplomacy advice from David Obey. Maybe I will go home and start all over again, with all due respect to their various strengths.

Reformer, visionary, public servant, David Obey has our gratitude and our appreciation. We will miss him enormously. He cannot be replaced. His legacy will live long in this body and in this country. We will long benefit from his leadership, his commitment, his values, his impatience, his eloquence, his Archy. His Archy, whose words of wisdom have guided us on occasions where other eloquence may have fallen short.

The Congress he loves so much will miss Dave Obey. And I hope that he leaves here knowing the high regard that his colleagues hold him in, the deep respect we have for his intellect, his boundless energy, and from time to time, yes, his humor, and occasionally his diplomacy.

So, Mr. Chairman, thank you. It has been an honor to serve with you. I know, again, that I speak for all of our colleagues when I say it is an honor to call you ``colleague.'' Thank you, Mr. Obey, for what you have done for our country.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1782, I call up the bill (H.R. 3082) making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment thereto, and I have a motion at the desk.

Madam Speaker, I have only one speaker on this side.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I was in error. We have two speakers on this side.

I now yield 1 minute to the distinguished Speaker of the House.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey).

I yield 1 minute to the distinguished majority leader, the gentleman from Maryland.

I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

I yield the gentlewoman 1 additional minute.

I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards).

I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks).

I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price).

I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.

I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan).

I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Madam Speaker, we really do need to bring this to a conclusion, so I yield 1 minute to the last speaker, the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch).

I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the pending legislation.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate all of the kind words that have been said about me tonight. I must confess that I sometimes am more at ease when I am being pummeled than when I am being praised, but maybe that's just my quirky character.

Let me simply say that this is the last time that I will be making any comments on this floor. I want to thank the Members on both sides of the aisle for their courtesies over the past 42 years, and I want to say that it has been a privilege for each and every one of us, whether we have served here one term or 21 or even more, it is a privilege for all of us to have been sent to this place, to the people's House. I can think of no greater privilege and you cannot. This is the only place in the government that you have to be elected in order to occupy our jobs. In the Senate you don't have to be elected. Even in the Presidency, you don't have to be elected under quirky circumstances, and I think all of us can be proud of that distinction.

Let me also say, Madam Speaker, that I do think I need to say at least a word or two about the subject at hand, this piece of legislation. John Wesley said that his rule for living was this: do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

I wish I could say that this legislation lived up to that lofty goal. It does not. It has many, many shortcomings.

The only reason for supporting this legislation today--and it is an overriding one--is to keep the government operating. If I were to vote my preferences, I would vote ``no'' because I believe we should have before us today a continuing resolution for the rest of

the fiscal year. The only reason we do not is because only in the United States Senate can you get a majority of votes for any proposition and still lose because of their peculiar rules.

I think the difference between the way our two respective parties have handled similar situations is interesting.

Four years ago, when our party took control after 12 years of rule by our friends on the other side of the aisle, the outgoing Republican majority chose to simply dump most of the work for that fiscal year onto the incoming Democratic majority by passing a short-term CR. That meant that we had to spend the first 2 months dealing with the previous year's business rather than being able to start with a clean slate in dealing with new problems.

In contrast, today's outgoing Democratic majority has tried mightily to clear the deck for the incoming Republican majority by producing a full-year CR, which attempts to compromise by producing funding levels that were $46 billion below the President's budget and which amounted to a freeze at the previous year's level. Passage of that legislation would have meant that the incoming Republican majority would be able to start with a clean slate in working with the President on a whole host of major problems.

But, instead, we are here today confronted with this legislation, which expires on March 4 and which will require the incoming Republican majority to spend the first 2 months of its stewardship dealing with last year's business. I think that's unfortunate. Through the use of the Senate filibuster, it has been assured that we could not complete a full-year CR. That action simply mirrors the procedural resistance with which we have been faced all year long with the Senate minority engaging in more than 87 filibuster actions in order to grind matters to a halt and frustrate the Congress' ability to do anything on the budget front by majority vote.

That is unfortunate; but at this late date, there is no point in arguing. The die is cast, obviously. The only responsible choice at this point is to recognize reality, even though that means that the early days of the next Congress will be unnecessarily confrontational and partisan. It means that, on budget issues, most of next year will simply be about demonstrating political leverage rather than working through honest, substantive differences to reasonable conclusions. Because of that, I most reluctantly, but firmly, suggest an ``aye'' vote.

I want to take an additional minute to thank two people in this Chamber who the public will never know, but there are many, many of them over Capitol Hill who work day in and day out to produce a better country, and the public never knows their names. One of them with us tonight is Jeff Shockey, who has done an admirable job as minority staff director on the committee for years. Sometimes I wish he hadn't been so good, but I do appreciate the work that he has done.

And, lastly, I do not know what I would have done without Beverly Pheto as the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. She is an absolute true professional. She has imagination, she has courage, she has stamina, and most of all, she has an amazing ability to put up with me, and that alone ought to get her the Congressional Medal of Honor.

So, with that, I would simply say good-bye to you-all, and I would hope that we would cast a responsible vote so that we can get about the country's business next year, even though many of us will not be here to participate.

I yield back the balance of my time

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I hesitate to speak of course, lest we get off message, but I am going to take that chance in any event.

I have had the opportunity of serving for a long period of time with Mr. Lewis, Mr. Rogers, Mrs. Lowey, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Dicks on the Appropriations Committee. I am not sure I see anybody else who served on that Appropriations Committee with us. And I served on the Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. And I went on in January of 1983. I won't go all through every year from 1983 to today. That would take too long and would bore you stiff.

But I had the great privilege of sitting just a couple of chairs from the gentleman from Wisconsin, who had been in the Congress some 12 years before I came, having been elected in 1969. Served over four decades in this body. I will adopt all the words that were ascribed to him by the gentlewoman from New York, but three words that I would use are ``tough,'' ``courageous,'' and ``effective.''

I think the gentleman from Kentucky caught it as well. He is a difference maker. I think, Congressman Rogers, your words were very appropriate, not because you agreed or others agreed necessarily with the difference he wanted to make, but you knew if David Obey was engaged in an issue, he would make a difference on that issue.

From my perspective, the good news is David Obey was almost invariably engaged on the issues he thought affected average people, who were not so average at all. Whether it was their education, their health, their housing, making sure the NIH was trying to find cures for diseases that afflicted them,

whether he was standing up to make sure that people in the cold of winter had heat or in the scorching heat of summer had air conditioning to keep them healthy, David Obey could always be counted on as a strong, unwavering, uncowering voice on behalf of people who needed a voice. They had a special interest, but they did not have money to hire voices. They needed voices in this body that we know as the people's House.

The people on some 20 occasions returned David Obey to the Congress of the United States. Maybe it was one more than that, 21 occasions. They returned David Obey to the Congress of the United States because they saw in David Obey that voice that they needed and wanted and respected.

David Obey, in addition to the three attributes I ascribed to him, is honest. One of the things I most admire in David Obey and one of the things I most cherished was his slaying of the dragon of hypocrisy. I don't think anything angered David Obey more than seeing hypocrisy. There is too much hypocrisy, where we say, Oh, we are for this, and then we vote for that, or vice versa. We could always count on David saying, Hey, you want to be honest? Stop posing for holy pictures.

I am sure that has been mentioned during the course of this, because there is a famous phrase that we all remember by David Obey. By that, he meant, of course, be real. Don't try to flim-flam the public. Stand up for what you believe in, not what you think people want to hear. And we had no better example and no more faithful example of that performance than David Obey.

I want to thank David Obey. I want to thank him for being my friend. I want to thank him for being an example of what Members of Congress ought to be. I want to thank him for being a steadfast, faithful voice for the people who needed a voice, a leader on behalf of the principles that I think this country was speaking about when it said that we establish a government to protect the general welfare. David Obey believed that to his very core, and every day of his service his belief was manifest in his actions.

I also want to thank my friend Jerry Lewis. Every day that I served on the Appropriations Committee, I served with Jerry Lewis, and almost every day with Hal Rogers. Hal came a little after Jerry and I came to the committee.

One of the things that I recall to people about this committee is that for most of my service, not all of my service, unfortunately, but for most of my service it was arguably the most bipartisan committee in the Congress of the United States, where we worked together, made determinations together. And, yes, there were differences, but we did so in a civil, collegiate way that the American public I think would have appreciated.

Jerry Lewis has been someone who has focused on our institution. For many of the years that I served, Jerry Lewis and Vic Fazio from California were chairs of the Legislative appropriations committee, and they worked together as a team to make this institution more effective, better serving its Members and better enabling its Members to serve the Nation.

Jerry, I want to thank you for your service as chairman of the committee, but as a member of the committee and certainly as chair of the committee that didn't get much publicity and sometimes was a thankless job, but was a job that you and Vic did in the best traditions of what the American public says it wants--bipartisan cooperation, positive partnership--and I thank you for that.

Hal, I wish you the best of luck as you undertake these responsibilities. We are losing a giant as David Obey retires. David Obey chose to retire. There is no doubt in my mind if he had chosen to run again, his people would have sent him back.

So, David Obey, you have been a great Member of this Congress. You have served your country, your State, and our people well. We are, all of us, in your debt. Godspeed.