Obey faults Bush, says a shutdown of government ‘cannot be allowed’

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) said on Monday that a government shutdown “cannot be allowed” and blamed President Bush for his unwillingness to compromise.

“I don’t know how this is going to come out,” Obey said when asked whether Bush and the Democratic Congress would reach agreement on appropriations bills. “[Bush] wants to make a federal case out of it, apparently.”

{mosads}Obey spoke at a forum hosted by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, where he was promoting his new book, Raising Hell for Justice. The book is a look back on his 38 years in the House.

Congressional Democrats have added roughly $23 billion in total to Bush’s initial $933 billion budget request, prompting the White House to threaten it will veto spending bills. The House has passed all 12 spending bills for fiscal 2008, but the Senate has passed just three. None of the bills has been sent to a conference committee to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions, even though the current fiscal year expires Sept. 30.

If Democrats do not pass a budget, they must pass a continuing resolution. But that would mean that lawmakers would not get any earmarks.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has threatened that Bush “would veto” six of the 12 House-passed spending bills and two of the Senate-passed bills. OMB said that Bush “will veto” the military construction and veterans’ affairs spending bills if increases in spending are not offset elsewhere in the budget.

But the new OMB director, former Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa), told Bloomberg News on Monday that talks had not yet broken down. He added that the $23 billion “does not sound like a lot of money. It is probably that they ought to go back home to Iowa [where] $23 billion is significant … We have got to work that out.”

Obey accused President Bush of manufacturing a hypothetical budget fight “to shift attention [from the war in Iraq] … The White House is looking for a fight even if they think one won’t exist.”

When asked whether Democrats have a post-veto strategy, Obey declined to discuss options. He said that politicians should first “define differences, then resolve differences. That’s the measure of adulthood.” 

Democrats must weigh whether they have the votes to override Bush’s vetoes and whether it is easier to override the veto of an omnibus spending bill or individual spending bills.

Obey also addressed the war in Iraq, impeachment, the decline of civility and decency in Congress, and his high regard for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Obey said the Democratic-led Congress could not end the war in Iraq because “the No. 1 misunderstanding [is that people] think Democrats control the Senate, but we merely have responsibility for it. We don’t have the votes.”

Obey, in his typical blunt fashion, said it would be a waste of “time, energy and resources” to impeach Bush, adding that, “We’re trying to change policy, not have a political coup.”

He lamented some of the changes in the House, namely the rise of extreme partisanship and the “intense amount of disrespect” that some younger lawmakers display toward their elders and the institution.

“When I came to Congress, most of the haters were in the Democratic Party … largely but not exclusively that has transferred to the Republican Party,” Obey said.

Obey was a rebel himself, however, when he first came to Washington. He sought to upend the seniority system and pass a myriad of reforms, including changes to the ethics rules, which led many of the “Old Bulls” to despise him. In his new book, Obey writes that he once called former Rep. John Rooney (D-N.Y.), a powerful appropriator, a “senile old goat.”

He might have criticized his elders, but offered praise on Monday for Pelosi, calling her an “incredible human being” and the “hardest-working person in that job.”

She is not afraid to let people know when she is displeased, Obey said, but added that she does it with a lighter touch than Tom DeLay, the former GOP Whip and -Majority Leader.