[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 5, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S3157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSMAN DAVID OBEY

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I was saddened by the announcement of my 
friend, Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin, that he will retire from 
the U.S. House of Representatives. He has served with great distinction 
for the people of his district in Wisconsin since April 1, 1969.
  He was elected to succeed Melvin Laird, who had resigned from the 
House to serve as Secretary of Defense. David Obey was reelected to 17 
succeeding Congresses. In the House, he has chaired the Joint Economic 
Committee and the Committee on Appropriations. David Obey has had a 
career of distinction in the Congress. He has been conscientious in the 
discharge of his duties and responsibilities as a Congressman and he 
has been a good friend of mine.
  I will truly miss working with David Obey on the Appropriations 
Committee. We dealt with some of the most contentious issues of our 
time. I always respected him even though we sometimes had to disagree 
on issues that were being considered by our committee.
  He was a spirited and effective Member of Congress. I extend to him 
my very good wishes for the future.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I want to join my great friend from 
Mississippi, Senator Cochran, in his sentiments about David Obey.
  I have known Dave Obey for 36 years. He had already been in Congress 
about 4 or 5 years when I got to meet Dave, when I arrived in 1975. He 
is a wonderful individual, with deep passions. He was the best ally you 
ever had if he was on your side, and he was a frightening opponent if 
he was on the other side. Having been on both sides of an argument with 
Dave Obey, believe me, I much prefer having him an ally on issues.
  He is a notorious workhorse who showed up every day with his sleeves 
rolled up to fight for not only the little guy in his own district in 
Wisconsin but for people all across the country. Working men and women 
never had a better ally in the Congress of the United States than they 
did in Dave Obey.
  He did not spare any of his emotion or rhetoric when it came to the 
defense of that working man and woman in our country during his more 
than 40 years of service. He has great passion. Nothing he disliked 
more than a bully, and nothing ignited his temper more than any 
injustice.
  He loved his State, his family, and enjoyed a great joke when we 
would spend time with him in various committees and the marking up of 
bills. He and I worked together. We were involved, when in my earliest 
days in the House I was a strong backer of Richard Bolling from 
Missouri to be majority leader back in 1976 I think it was.
  Gillis Long of Louisiana and I were the comanagers of Richard 
Bolling's campaign to become majority leader when Tip O'Neill was going 
to become Speaker and there was a contest over the majority leader's 
race.
  The other great ally in that effort was Dave Obey of Wisconsin. That 
is when I first got to know Dave, in that battle for the majority 
leader. We lost that battle. Dick Bolling did not make it. Jim Wright 
became the majority leader in a very close contest, in fact, with Phil 
Burton of California. It was a 1-vote margin that determined the 
majority leader's race.
  Richard Bolling dropped out after the second ballot, did not get 
enough votes. But Dave Obey and I and Gillis Long and a group of others 
organized to support Richard Bolling. That is when I got to know Dave. 
I was with him about a couple of weeks ago. Rosa DeLauro, the 
Congresswoman from the New Haven district in Connecticut, my former 
campaign manager, chief of staff for 7 years, was only the second woman 
to be the Chief of Staff of a Senator of the United States. She served 
with me for 7 years and went on to become a Member of Congress for the 
last 20 years herself.
  Rosa sits on the Appropriations Committee and chairs the Agriculture 
Subcommittee. Dave Obey was at that event for Congresswoman DeLauro and 
gave some wonderful remarks on behalf of her that evening.
  I join Thad Cochran in wishing Dave the very best. He served his 
State, his district, and his country with distinction and great 
patriotism. We wish him the very best.

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