Dave Obey

Mr. OBEY

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes and 15 seconds to my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kleczka).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds. Mr. Chairman, once again I would attempt to notify any Members who are watching that if they are on the Democratic list for speaking on this matter, they need to get to the House floor pronto or they will lose their opportunity. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, how much time is remaining?

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, because we are in search of absent speakers, I will yield myself 5 minutes until some of them arrive. Mr. Chairman, I want to take this time to address one issue that I have seen appear in the newspapers on almost a daily basis. There is somehow an impression on the part of a number of Members of this House and a number of members of the press that somehow we will endanger our ability to provide a responsible reconstruction package in Iraq if we scale back the reconstruction package now before us. I would like to suggest why that is not true, and to do so, I am simply going to read several paragraphs from the dissenting views that I filed with the committee in the report accompanying this bill, and here is what I wrote for that purpose. ``While the Committee wisely pared back some of the more outlandish projects proposed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the bill the committee is sending to the House does little to alter the underlying approach to reconstruction envisaged by the CPA. That approach relies on huge contracts with large, multinational corporations to provide high tech and capital-intensive construction, training and services to Iraq requiring the importation of heavy equipment, highly-paid consultants and the payment of corporate overhead and profits. ``The consequence of this approach is that the American taxpayer will pay much more than he or she should; the amount of construction or reconstruction that can be performed within available funds will be significantly less than might otherwise be accomplished; the development of Iraqi businesses and institutions to deal with such problems will be negligible and the number of Iraqis who will be employed will be far fewer than could be productively used if less capital-intensive and lower-tech approaches were followed. In short, we will be paying more for smaller results and particularly smaller results with respect to employment and other economic changes necessary to bring about greater political stability.'' Then I go on to cite one example. After U.S. engineers had told Major General Patraeus that it would cost $15 million to bring a concrete factory up to Western standards, the commander of the 101st Airborne Division gave the contract to local Iraqis who were able to get that cement plant running for just $80,000. It seems to me that the message that Congress ought to be sending the administration is that we need to focus more on low tech, indigenous strategies for development rather than simply getting in the old habit of going to the big multinationals like Halliburton and others and saying, okay, boys, what can you do for us with your high-paid consultants and high fees. So that is why it seems to me that the responsible thing to do is to scale back this package until the administration revisits its approach. In the end, if they do that, we will provide better benefits to Iraq and better benefits to the American taxpayer. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time remains on this side.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, how much time is remaining?

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, how much time do we have remaining?

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murtha), the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Defense of the Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. OBEY. It is my understanding that after this leg, we will still have an hour of general debate remaining under the rule that was adopted; is that not correct?

Mr. OBEY. I thank the Chair. Mr. Chairman, I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall). (Mr. UDALL of New Mexico asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ford).

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Chairman, I know that that 15 seconds has been bugging you all day. I am going to yield it back.

Mr. OBEY

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

Mr. OBEY. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.